MOST SCHOOL BOND MEASURES FALL SHORT
A suite of school bond measures in San Diego County were failing, according to unofficial election results that showed voters ambivalent about raising taxes to fix aging school sites.
Bond measures proposed by Chula Vista, Cajon Valley, Lakeside, Poway and Escondido Union School Districts did not get enough votes to pass, according to preliminary ballot returns posted Wednesday by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters. In two of those cases, Chula Vista and Escondido, the proposed bond measures drew more than 50 percent approval but fell short of the 55 percent supermajority needed to pass.
Only Measures T and U, both proposed by San Ysidro School District, passed muster with voters. Those measures, however, were designed to supplant unspent money from a previous 1997 bond measure, and did not allocate new funds.
The bond measures were proposed to update many schools built a half-century ago to replace portables, fix leaking roofs, install security fences and cameras, wire classrooms for online instruction, and modernize schools to meet contemporary standards for science, technology and skilled trades.
The tepid response to bond measures countywide indicated a regional reluc
out or uncertainty in the market. Who knows?”
Chula Vista’s $300 million Measure M had a solid fivepoint lead of 52.55 percent in favor to 47.45 percent against, but it did not reach the 55 percent threshold. Escondido voters favored the $205 million Measure Q by a narrower margin of 50.87 percent to 49.13 percent. Those results were based on numbers that the Registrar of Voters released Wednesday, with just over a half-million votes counted, and 350,000 still outstanding.
In Escondido, Assistant Superintendent Michael Taylor said officials are still hopeful that the numbers will turn around as the final returns come in.
“I’m still optimistic that it will pass,” Taylor said. “We’re obviously quite a bit short of the 55 percent, but on the webpage, they’re saying that there are still 350,000 ballots to be counted. This election is not over until those ballots are counted.”
In the other districts, however, the bond measures did not reach even a simple majority. Lakeside School District’s $33 million Measure R received just 39.77 percent of the vote, with 60.23 percent of voters weighing in against it. Cajon Valley voters opposed the $220 million Measure L by 55.65 percent to 44.35. And Poway Unified’s $448 milion Measure P was failing with 47.38 in favor of the measure to 52.62 against.
Escondido officials had carefully weighed voters’ mood with polling on potential bond measures, and then staged what Taylor called a “bond road show” of local community service clubs, political organizations and homeowners associations. They informed voters about facilities’ needs at the district’s schools, work done under the previous bond measure, and the fiscal protections contained in the bond language.
Poway school officials also tried to communicate the dire condition of their campuses, warning that many schools urgently needed repairs to meet current safety and academic standards, and will be rated in “poor condition” if improvements aren’t made by 2023. However, the district had an uphill battle persuading voters who were wary of approving new school funding after a $105 million “capital appreciation bond” deal struck by school officials in 2011 left taxpayers on the hook for nearly $1 billion.
“Trying to rebuild that trust definitely was challenging and was a factor,” Paik said.
However, she said there are also misconceptions among the public about how school construction is funded. Although the state allocates education money for day-to-day operations and salaries, it does not provide significant dollars to build or modernize campuses. Any bond money the state does offer for facilities generally requires matching funds from local bond measures. So if a district doesn’t approve its own bond spending, it can’t qualify for state dollars.
“I think there’s still a very prevalent misconception of how school facilities are funded,” Paik said. “We got a lot of statements like, ‘Why can’t you just pay for it out of your general fund?’ People just don’t realize that the state doesn’t give school districts money for facilities needs.”
Lakeside Unified School Board member Andrew Hayes, the only trustee for that district to oppose Measure R, said districts should be able manage their budgets to cover maintenance, and said many residents have reached their threshold for taxes.
“I think the voters are feeling just like most Californians are,” he said. “We’re overtaxed, and we’re tired of our leaders telling us that the default solution is always to increase taxes. The cost of living is too high, housing is already too expensive, and young people are moving out of state because they can’t afford to live here. And a bond measure is another property tax.”
He acknowledged that most school district budgets are tight, but he attributed that to rising pension costs, and said school officials should ask Sacramento leaders, not voters, to chip in more. With pension costs covered, districts could plan for deferred maintenance and keep their schools in good shape, he said.
“The state pension costs are so high that it cuts into our reserves,” Hayes said. “We have to keep covering more and more, so we have less and less to rehab facilities.” Cajon Valley Superintendent David Miyashiro, however, said that he thinks the bond failed because of lower turnout in a primary election. He said the district has high bond ratings and prestigious endorsements for its proposal, and will try again in the next election. He encouraged other districts to renew their bond measures in November, as well.
“Because we did all the legwork, our board is in a position to run again in the 2020 election, when participation is much higher,” he said. “We’re confident that if we would go out in 2020, we would have the support we need to make our schools the best place to go.”
deborah.brennan@ sduniontribune.com