Poway Pushing Special School Tax : Officials Confident Landowners Will OK Building Plans

Poway Unified School District officials are confident that, by 1989, at least some of the 18,000 students who attend local schools won’t have to spend their school days in trailers or wait so long to go to the bathroom.

Overcrowding, a longtime concern of school board members, may be remedied by that year if a proposed special tax district that would provide guaranteed funds for schools is approved as expected by local landowners this summer.

The state Mellow-Roos Community Facilities Act makes it possible for the district--with landowners’ approval--to levy taxes on future developments built within district boundaries, with the money going directly to the schools.

The state Legislature in 1982 enacted the Mellow-Roos Act to allow local government agencies to build and expand public facilities or for other public projects. It also allows assessment districts to obtain money by collecting developer fees as building permits are granted.

The plan, which was adopted by board members Saturday at a special meeting, could bring in millions of dollars for construction of the six elementary schools, one middle school and one high school planned for the district in the next 8 to 10 years, said Jim Abbott, assistant superintendent.

For school district officials, the additional money would bring “salvation� from elementary school yards that are too full and would help pay for the proposed middle school and high school that are slated to open in Rancho Bernardo in 1989.

“Overall, the facilities are overcrowded. . . . We have kids studying in trailers that take up ballfields and sometimes it’s tough going to the bathroom,� said Roger Keithly, Poway school district president.

“Some of the facilities have taken a beating.�

A public hearing on the proposed tax district is scheduled for April 27. An election will be scheduled for late July, Abbott said.

A two-thirds vote of the landowners is needed to pass the tax district measure but school officials feel confident that they can obtain the necessary votes because of strong support shown by major developers in the area, Keithly said.

“The tax district is a good thing because when you are able to show that the necessary public services are available, it’s an important selling tool. . . . Schools and projects go hand in hand,� said Steve Zimmer, assistant legal counsel of the Pardee Construction Co., a major developer in the Poway area.

Andy Campbell, administrator of planning for the Sweetwater Union High School District, said developers in the Chula Vista area last year approved a similar measure under the Mellow-Roos law that has helped school officials in their plans to build a high school in the district by 1990.

If approved in Poway, new developments would be taxed about $650 to $750 for a single-family home of about 1,400 square feet, said David Taussig, special tax consultant for the district.