Districts Line Up for School Bond Money : Education: The fast-growing Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys are expected to benefit from passage of the measure.

School districts in the fast-growing Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys are expected to receive a large chunk of funds from the $900-million school bond measure approved by voters this week to build new schools and repair old and decaying buildings, officials of the districts said Thursday.

But just which of the region’s crowded schools will receive money, and how much, is up to the State Allocations Board, which meets Nov. 18, said Phil Shearer, manager of the state Education Department’s Office of Local Assistance in Sacramento.

High on the state’s priority list is the Newhall School District, which is likely to receive about $7 million to help pay for an elementary school in the huge Stevenson Ranch housing project, Newhall district officials said.

A bit lower on the list are requests for funds to refurbish existing schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District and money to plan for a new school in the Antelope Valley Union High School District, district officials said.

“We have done everything they require for a No. 1 priority,” Newhall school board President Pat Willett said. “We have the property. The plans are finished and being reviewed by the state. We believe we have a good chance.”

She said the new elementary school is likely to open by the fall of 1994, if funding is approved.

However, Willett said, the new school will not alleviate the need for some schools in the district to go on year-round schedules next year. “We’re going to have to go year-round to accommodate the large enrollment we have now and to handle the growth,” she said.

Two schools, Valencia Valley and Wiley Canyon, are scheduled to begin year-round schedules in July. Both now have enrollments of about 1,000 students, but were built to accommodate about 700 pupils, Willett said.

Building a new school may delay the change to year-round schedules “somewhere down the line” for other schools, Willett said.

Officials of the Hart district said they are optimistic that they may receive about $2.9 million to paint, air-condition, replace carpeting, install new floors and roofs and make other repairs to Hart High School and Placerita Junior High School.

Both are 30 years old or more, as the state requires for such funding, said Rob Gapper, supervisor of facility planning.

The Antelope Valley high school district wants $6.8 million to buy land and prepare plans for a new high school on the valley’s east side.

“We would hope to get between $6 million and $7 million for land purchase and design,” said Richard Aitken, district engineer. Actual construction funds will have to come from a future bond measure, he said. “We’re not high enough on the list for that.”

The Castaic School District is applying for about $3 million to help build a new middle school, but is not counting on getting the funds from Tuesday’s state bond measure, said Jim Buler, district business manager.

“There are many districts in line for the money,” he said, but “we’re moving our application forward and have hopes.”

Meanwhile, the Castaic district will hold a local bond election in March asking voters to approve $20 million in bond sales to build the middle school and a new elementary school, Buler said.

Also on the waiting list for the state bond money are the Palmdale School District, which needs $14.4 million for construction of one elementary school and expansion of another, and the Lancaster School District, which is asking for $2.3 million to complete the building of one school and to begin planning another.