 |
|||||
|
School-bond supporters gear up for election season
by Jason Dietrich
Teachers, parents, school boosters and city officials are joining forces to push the Redondo Beach Unified School District's $52 million facilities bond on the November 7 ballot.
To pass the bond, Measure "E" in the general election, supporters have to convince 66.7 per cent of the voters that the schools are in bad enough shape that they need a major infrastructure overhaul. The proposed bond would cost Redondo property owners about $27 dollars a year per $100,000 of assessed property value. Buildings are typically assessed at a lower dollar value than they would sell for on the open market.
A June telephone survey reported that 61.3 per cent of voters would probably support the bond. Consultants said the community needs to be better informed about the state of the district's buildings for the bond to be passed.
"In this survey, the community did understand the needs of the district. The district is going to need to communicate their specific needs to the community," said Mitch Templeton of the Dale Scott Company, which paid for the survey and will walk the district through the issuing process. Dale Scott earns a commission on bond if it is approved.
This week supporters are mailing out flyers explaining the bond issue's importance and have launched a drive to register parents to vote. According to the school district's figures, 70 per cent of the parents of Redondo's school-aged children are not registered to vote.
"We figure we need about an additional 1,500 votes to put us over the top," said Rick Smith who co-chairs the Redondo Beach Friends of Education.
For the past few weeks, volunteers have been hitting the phones four nights a week, ringing up registered voters and offering them information about the need for the proposed bond. Five area offices have been commandeered after hours to serve as phone banks. Even though they only catch about one out three residents at home, phoners say the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
"About one out of 25 voters say they're opposed to the bond," said Victoria Page of the Redondo Beach Friends of Education.
Redondo Unified's decision to demolish much of the Aviation High School campus in the early '90s and the Manhattan Beach School District's drive for a second school bond in five years may have some voters thinking twice about giving the measure their approval.
"One man said, 'I'm sorry, but I vote against anything that raises my taxes no matter what,'" said volunteer Gentil Smith.
Redondo voters haven't passed a school bond in more than 40 years. The last Redondo school bond was paid off back in 1972.
School officials say Measure "E" is necessary to repair and replace aging electrical, plumbing and safety systems and bring all the district's 13 schools up to code. Many school buildings are more than 50 years old and don't measure up to today's safety and building standards. Parts of Redondo Union High School were built in 1905, and the school is showing its age. Higher-than-allowed lead levels were found in school fixtures, malfunctioning bathrooms have plagued maintenance workers and students alike, and insufficient parking and drop-off points have been snarling traffic and riling neighbors for years.
Measure "E" will share the ballot with two other education-related initiatives. Proposition 38, which gives parents the option of taking a $4,000-per-year voucher to help pay for private or parochial school in lieu of public schooling, has drawn criticism from the school board for the damage it could cause to the public school system.
The board has come out in favor of Proposition 39. If passed, the proposition would reduce the number of votes necessary to pass a local school bond in California from 66.7 per cent to 55 per cent. A similar proposition to reduce the number of votes to a simple majority was recently rejected. While Proposition 39 will not affect the bond currently on the table, it would help fund the future of education across California, said Schools Superintendent Bill Nunan. ER