Editorial

Last June, the Huntington Beach City School District narrowly missed

getting the required two-thirds majority approval for a much-needed

$25-million school bond.

At that time, we expressed disappointment that the voters in this town

would reject a good cause and urged the district to try again.

Now it looks like the district is doing just that.

If approved last June, the bond measure would have cost homeowners $16

per $100,000 of assessed value. For someone with a $500,000 home that’s a

mere $80 a year.

Imagine, for only $1.50 a week to those homeowners, the schools would

be able to replace water and sewer systems, old roofs, classroom fire and

smoke alarms, electrical and air conditioning systems and make modern

technology upgrades.

Of course, the cost would be even less for those with lesser assessed

value and more for others with higher, but let’s be frank here, either

way the money is hardly even a drop in the bucket and would clearly be

well spent.

Still, that didn’t stop opposition to the bond from forming last time,

largely based on the premise that the school district had not given a

clear prioritized list of its spending plan should the bond pass.

While district officials disputed that notion, this time around they

should end that controversy immediately and provide a detailed list of

spending priorities, something the Newport-Mesa Unified School District

did with great success a year ago. That district was able to pass a bond

with a 72% majority.

We urge the district to quiet the naysayers and instead line up the

necessary support to pass this bond and improve local schools as soon as

possible.