School Bond Backers in East County Districts Planning to Try Again

By FRED ALVAREZ and LISA FERNANDEZ

Nov. 6, 1997 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

While officials in three west county school districts were making plans to spend proceeds from voter-approved bond measures, educators in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark were gearing up Wednesday to launch new campaigns after voters shot down measures in those districts.

In semiofficial results from Tuesday’s election, Thousand Oaks voters fell less than three percentage points shy of the two-thirds margin needed to pass a $97-million school bond, the largest ever proposed in Ventura County.

And in neighboring Moorpark, voters narrowly failed to approve a $16.2-million bond, with 65.2% endorsing that measure, just short of the 66.6% required.

With a solid majority supporting those efforts, however, officials in both districts say they hope to try again during a special election in April.

“Our needs haven’t changed,” said Supt. Jerry Gross of the Conejo Valley Unified School District. “And I think we owe it to our community to make sure we do the things we have to do to keep the district whole.”

On the flip side, Camarillo residents finally managed to boost a school bond over the two-thirds hurdle, with 70.8% of voters approving a measure that will generate $49 million to help build new schools and shore up crumbling facilities.

Before Tuesday’s victory, the Pleasant Valley School District had tried four times to pass a school bond, but each time came up just short of the votes needed for passage.

Also on Tuesday, voters approved a $20-million bond measure for the Rio School District and a $15-million measure for the Ojai Unified School District. More than 76% of the voters supported Measure R in El Rio, and 71.8% supported Ojai’s Measure S.

First thing Wednesday morning, administrators gathered at the Ojai district offices to exchange congratulations and then get busy planning how to spend the bond money.

“Now it’s time to get to work,” said Bob Smith, the district’s assistant superintendent for business services. “We have now set the stage for prioritization of projects and identifying which items will be done in the short term, mid term and long term.”

In another school-related election, Ventura voters returned three incumbents--John Walker, Velma Lomax and Cliff Rodrigues--to the city’s school board. The three easily fended off five challengers.

In the Thousand Oaks district, even before the final results were known, frustrated and tired Measure Q supporters began speculating--and laying blame--as to why the $97-million measure failed.

The Measure Q die-hards attacked the two-thirds majority needed in California to float a school bond.

Supporters of the measure also pointed fingers at the larger voter turnout attributed to the attempt to recall Thousand Oaks City Councilwoman Elois Zeanah. They noted that in the three districts where the bond measures passed, there were no other issues on the ballot.

“We always knew it would be hard to predict the outcome because of the recall,” said Cheryl Heitmann, a Conejo Valley mother and school activist. “Maybe it had a bigger impact than we thought.”

Of the five bond measures on Tuesday’s ballot, Conejo Valley’s faced the most opposition.

Resident Robin Westmiller, who wrote the ballot statement opposing the bond measure, felt vindicated.

“I always knew the intelligent and fiscally responsible people in this community would make the right decision,” she said. “It’s also gratifying to know that one person with no money or political machine can really make a difference.”

For now, failure to approve the bond measure means that Thousand Oaks’ 26 schools won’t get the immediate overhaul that district officials had hoped for. The $97 million would have gone to pay for repairing and replacing broken underground pipes, paving parking lots, fixing roofs, installing air conditioning and phone systems and building a new tennis court and swimming pool at Westlake High School.

But Gross was quick to point out that a solid majority of voters supported the measure. And despite the fact that the district was seeking a record $97 million, he doesn’t want to ask for less money next time.

“I don’t see any reason to tell voters that we asked for too much,” he said. “These are our needs, and I think the community understands that. I just think we need to do a better job getting that message out and collecting a few more yes votes.”

In Moorpark, where a park-maintenance measure also failed, school district officials said they were heartened by how close they came to victory. And they said they planned to take a hard look at Tuesday’s results to learn what it will take to succeed at the polls.

“We’ll learn what we can do better for next time and hopefully it will put us over the hurdle,” school board member Gary Cabriales said.

Perhaps no district knows more about learning from past setbacks at the polls than the Pleasant Valley district in Camarillo.

In each of the four elections where supporters have asked voters to approve bond measures, they have come tantalizingly close to victory. Each of those bond measures won clear support from a majority of voters, but each fell percentage points shy of the two-thirds threshold needed for passage.

When the final results rolled in Tuesday, showing that the bond had earned nearly 71% of the vote, there were plenty of cheers and even a few tears.

“It’s even sweeter after we have tried so many times,” said Howard Hamilton, the district’s associate superintendent. “This is a very difficult thing to do. Unless you’ve done it, you can’t appreciate it.”

Now district officials can turn their attention to the future.

The school board will meet today to start laying plans for how to spend the bond money. Hamilton said it is likely that board members will establish a committee to help prioritize and guide the projects in coming years.

“The most important thing is to honor the commitment that we made to the community,” said Hamilton, who hopes that projects will get underway in a few months. “Now that they’ve given us a check, it’s time to do some work and make sure we do it right.”

Correspondent Regina Hong contributed to this report. Alvarez is a Times staff writer and Fernandez is a correspondent.

* VENTURA COUNCIL

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