Posted on 02/21/2004 5:47:40 AM PST by calcowgirl
California voters will decide next month whether dilapidated classrooms in the Inland area and across the state will get makeovers and whether hundreds of new schools will be built.
The passage of Prop. 55, a $12.3 billion statewide school-construction bond on the March 2 ballot, would pump millions of dollars into Riverside and San Bernardino counties' schools. It could mean the difference between crumbling classrooms and modern facilities, local educators said.
"There is a critical need to renovate facilities," said Alice Grundman, who oversees construction for the Colton Joint Unified School District, which hasn't built a high school in four decades. "We need new schools now."
But at least two statewide groups have denounced the bond.
The California Republican Assembly, a conservative political organization with members throughout the state and Inland area, has characterized the measure as wasteful.
"It's a bad deal for taxpayers," Mike Spence, the group's president, said by phone. "Bonds are the most inefficient way to finance school construction."
Instead of taking on more debt, lawmakers should dedicate additional money for school facilities and not fund health-care programs for illegal immigrants, Spence said.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association also is against Prop. 55, saying, "It would be foolish to add to the public debt."
If the bond measure is passed, the Colton school district could receive about $137 million. Most of the money would finance the construction of two high schools. That would be a boon for Colton and Bloomington high schools, which now serve twice the number of students they were originally built to accommodate.
Although Prop. 55 can be approved with a majority vote, some educators fear it could become the first school bond to fail in 10 years.
The measure, known as the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004, is competing with Gov. Schwarzenegger's $15 billion deficit-reduction bond. Some school officials have expressed concern that voters may have qualms about taking on too much debt.
If Prop. 55 is rejected in March, it will appear on the ballot again in November. That would give supporters another chance to persuade voters, but could delay construction and repairs. The state bases funding on construction projects that have been approved but have not received money. If Prop. 55 fails, school officials said they'd have to put construction on hold indefinitely or find other ways to pay for projects. Options include passing local school bonds or raising developer fees.
The measure would provide $10 billion to renovate and construct kindergarten-through-12th-grade schools; $920 million for repairs and building projects at community colleges; $690 million for the University of California; and $690 million for the California State University system. California voters approved Prop. 47, a $13 billion companion bond, with 59 percent of the vote in 2002.
To qualify for the money, local school districts must raise matching funds, typically through local bonds or developer fees.
Winchester mother Rhonda O'Connell, whose two daughters attend Temecula schools, said school facilities in southwestern Riverside County haven't kept pace with the region's housing explosion. The small community north of Temecula badly needs its own high school, O'Connell said by phone.
"With all the housing developments that are going up, where are all these kids supposed to go to school?" O'Connell asked. "I would vote for the bond as long as the money is spent on schools where it's needed."
Unlike local bond measures, which raise property taxes, the state measure would not result in a local tax increase. Prop. 55 authorizes the sale of general obligation bonds, which are backed by the state, to finance construction and repairs. The state will repay the bond's principal and interest costs with its revenues, including state income and sales taxes.
School officials see the school bond as an "investment in the future," said Ted Rozzi, assistant superintendent of facilities for the Corona-Norco Unified School District. Officials in the booming school district have made the most of the more than $80 million Corona-Norco has received since the passage of Prop. 47. The school district, the largest in Riverside County, could gain about $200 million from the passage of Prop. 55.
Five elementary schools and a middle school have been built with the help of Prop. 47 money and local developer fees, said Rozzi, who serves on the board of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing. The group represents the interests of public school districts.
But Corona-Norco Unified is growing by about 2,000 students every school year and needs the state to pitch in, Rozzi said by phone.
"We need the state to step in and fulfill their obligation," Rozzi said.
And then the little undiciplined "darlings" can tear them down again, write on the walls and break the windows. A never ending cycle of work for the politically connected!
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