Voters Will Decide Whether 2 School Districts Can Sell Bonds

Voters in the Santa Clarita Valley will decide today whether local school districts can sell bonds to raise money for relief of overcrowding in elementary schools.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today in the Sulphur Springs Union School District and the Newhall School District.

This is the second time in less than a year that voters in the Sulphur Springs Union School District have been asked to approve a bond measure to build classrooms. In November, a similar measure fell only 224 votes short of the two-thirds vote required for passage.

This time, voters in the fast-growing Canyon Country area are being asked to approve a $20.2-million measure. The proposal, known as Measure CK, would extend an existing general obligation bond instead of raising taxes.

The Sulphur Springs district, which is expected to more than double in size by the year 2006, will use the money to add 20 new classrooms and replace 30 portable ones, Supt. Robert Nolet said. The additional classrooms are needed for the more than 5,500 new students expected to enroll in the next 15 years, he said. About 3,400 students now attend the district’s seven schools.

The majority of the new students are expected to come from the thousands of new houses proposed to be built in the area, but enrollment will grow by 1,500 children even without additional construction because of the current number of young families in the district, Nolet said.

“It is absolutely crucial that Measure CK pass because we have no other method of raising money to deal with growth from families living in existing homes,” Nolet said. “The state is out of money, and we need help from local residents.”

The Newhall School District is asking voters to approve a $20-million measure to help build new classrooms and a new elementary school. The proposal, known as Measure C, would raise property taxes slightly over a 25-year period.

If two-thirds of the voters approve Measure C, a property owner would pay an extra $21.54 a year for each house assessed at $125,000, $44 more on a $250,000 house and $90 more on a $500,000 house.

The district needs the money to build a new school in Stevenson Ranch and to move children out of about 20 portable classrooms, said Anne Hazlett, an assistant superintendent. With about 4,600 students enrolled, the district’s six schools are 700 students over capacity, she said.

“If this bond measure doesn’t pass, it means continued overcrowding,” Hazlett said. “We’ll just have to set up more portables until there is no more playground left.”