School bond measure succeeds

Andrew Edwards

Huntington Beach Union High School District narrowly gained the votes

needed to repair its aging facilities Tuesday night, garnering 57.8%

of the vote.

“We made it,” said Susan Henry, co-chair of the pro-Measure C

campaign committee and school board member, triumphantly. “We’re

thrilled, obviously. Now, we can go back to real life.”

School officials gathered at the home of school board President

Michael Simons, who co-chaired the Measure C campaign committee.

Bond proponents were encouraged by early returns that had the

measure winning with 59.4%.

“I’d rather come from ahead to win,” Simons said.

Measure C is a $228-million bond to patch up aging schools. The

bond’s project list includes plans to make improvements on all eight

of the of the district’s high schools.

In addition to repairing existing structures, bond revenue is

planned to construct new classrooms at Huntington Beach, Ocean View

and Westminster high schools.

To pay for the new classrooms, the district also needed money from

Proposition 55, a $12.3-billion state bond for school maintenance and

construction. That measure just barely squeaked by on its way to

approval, passing with 50.6% of the vote. With both initiatives

passing, the district can plan to complete all the improvements laid

out in the project list.

“We will be moving forward on our entire bind project list,” said

Patricia Koch asst. supt. For business services.

Repairs outlined in the measure’s project list -- bond revenue

cannot legally be spent on improvements not on the list -- include

replacing fire alarm systems, seismic upgrades, roof repairs and

fixing restrooms.

Voters living in the area served by the school district had to

decide whether improving school buildings was worth raising their own

taxes. To pay off the 30-year bonds, property owners will be required

to shell out $30 per $100,000 of assessed value.

Campaign co-chair Nancy Jenkins estimated the average cost per

property owner would be $75.

Trustee Matthew Harper has been the sole dissenting voice against

the bond. He has often said he thinks the district needs a bond to

make repairs, but would have rather approved a bond that had stricter

oversight provisions.

Harper also expressed concern with the amount of votes the bond

needed to pass. Prior to the passage of Proposition 39 in 2000, local

school bonds required a two-thirds majority to pass. School bonds

need 55% of the vote to be approved, as long as the initiative

provides for an oversight committee.

“Voters might want to take a look at restoring the two-thirds

threshold,” Harper said.

Measure C is the third bond affecting Huntington Beach since the

rules changed. In 2002, voters approved bonds benefiting schools in

the Coast Community College District and Huntington Beach City School

District. None of the bonds were approved with two-thirds of the

vote.

“Property owners are going to be paying not one, not two, but

three school bonds,” Harper said.

Measure C proponents had an advantage in the election as no formal

opposition group ever formed. Though the initiatives backers,

“Citizens for Quality Schools,” did not have to compete in a contest

of campaign literature and counter-arguments, volunteers spent many

hours working on behalf of the bond. Parents were organized into a

volunteer network who kept their noses to the grindstone until the

last minute.