Huntington no harbinger, officials say

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- This week’s defeat of the Huntington Beach Union High

School District bond has put local officials on the defensive.

“It really means that it is something we need to look at,” said Serene

Stokes, president of the Newport-Mesa Board of Education. “How can we

make sure the public understands what we’re trying to do?”

District officials’ spirits were lifted last week after Santa Ana and San

Juan Capistrano both successfully passed multimillion-dollar school

bonds. Despite the defeat of a parcel tax in Irvine, many felt they were

seeing a positive trend in voters’ attitudes toward passing bond

measures.

Still, all were waiting in anticipation of the Huntington Beach vote,

which was similar to the type of measure Newport-Mesa voters may

eventually face.

But instead of the predicted victory, the $123-million bond fell short of

the two-thirds vote needed by just six percentage points.

Officials are still buoyed by their preliminary study in Newport-Mesa,

which showed strong community support for a possible bond.

“We have a lot of support, but we don’t want to take that for granted,”

said Stokes, who has begun to meet with officials from Santa Ana and

Capistrano to find out what they did to ensure passage of their bonds.

Other school board members are less concerned, saying Newport-Mesa has

done, and will continue to do, its homework.

“I think that they [Huntington Beach] had not spent as much time leading

up to the decision to go to a bond,’ said board member Judy Franco. “It

seems to me that the amount of time we have put in at each site, walking

each site, does make somewhat of a difference.”

All agree that the pressure to garner support will be reduced if a

proposed “let’s fix our schools” measure is passed on the upcoming March

ballot. The measure would reduce the two-thirds vote needed to approve

local school bonds to a simple majority.

“If that did pass, it would certainly help us because I think we’d get

higher than 50% [voter approval],” said school board member Jim Ferryman.

Either way, the bond’s passage remains a matter of thoroughness and

preparation, Franco said.

“I think you have to look at the fact that statewide bonds that have been

put together carefully have been able to reach 66%,” she said. “Yes, a

simple majority would be easier to reach, but I would hope in this

community we would be able to pass with 66% or more.”

It is concentration on Newport-Mesa and not what is happening in

neighboring communities that will make the difference, said Supt. Robert

Barbot.

“Every district is so different,” he said. “There’s not a pattern. You’ve

got to make your case representative to what your community wants and do

the best job for your own district.”

Barbot specifically disputes any strong similarities between Newport-Mesa

and its neighboring communities.

“If you start generalizing and looking at what other districts are doing,

you really miss the boat,” he said.