Educators Expect Bond to Pass This Time : Camarillo: The $55-million measure would fix up crumbling schools districtwide. Similar Pleasant Valley initiatives failed in 1991.

By J.E. MITCHELL

June 4, 1995 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Pleasant Valley School District officials hope that three times will be the charm Tuesday when Camarillo-area voters consider whether to back a $55-million school bond measure.

Having been turned down twice in 1991 on similar, multimillion-dollar bond initiatives, district officials say that this time they are confident their message will get through to the district’s 36,000 registered voters.

“We have tried to tailor our communications so that the voters will know what this bond will do for the school in their neighborhood,” said Howard Hamilton, the district’s associate superintendent.

“In the past, I think we lost in part because voters felt the money would go only toward expansion on the east side of town,” Hamilton said. “This time, we’ve made it our mission to tell people that this bond is about repairing and renovating schools districtwide.”

With state funding constantly shrinking, many of the district’s 13 schools have gone without major repairs or renovations for almost three decades, say members of the Citizens for Measure G committee. The district has 13 schools that serve students in kindergarten through the eighth grade.

Moreover, committee and school district officials say, the district’s ability to educate nearly 7,000 schoolchildren is starting to be compromised as school buildings fall apart around teachers and their charges.

Similar bond elections failed by narrow margins in June and November of 1991. District officials say they will succeed this time because of their change in campaign strategy, the slightly improved economy and because no other local issues will be on the ballot to confuse voters.

Voter turnout Tuesday is expected to be 35%, said Bruce Bradley, the county’s assistant registrar of voters. That compares with 35.5% in November, 1991, the last time a school bond measure was on the ballot, and 69.1% in November, 1994, when three City Council seats were open.

If the bond passes by its required two-thirds margin, district homeowners would be charged about $2 per $100,000 of assessed property value each month. That means that the owner of a home worth $200,000 would pay about $48 a year over 30 years to retire the debt.

District officials say they would immediately begin to modernize and renovate the schools, many of which are 30 years old or older.

Also on the agenda is construction of at least two new elementary schools to relieve crowding. District officials say that as many as 900 new students are expected to enroll as developers build and sell more than 1,800 new homes over the next four years.

Dolores (Val) Rains, chairwoman of the Pleasant Valley School Board, said the district needs the bonds because state funding is shrinking and unstable, and local developers’ fees--payments to districts by builders--are too small to pay for the district’s ballooning renovation and repair needs.

When the district opened the $4.5-million Tierra Linda School in the Mission Oaks area last fall, Rains said, much of its current and future builders’ fees were exhausted. She added that the 700-student kindergarten through third grade facility reached its capacity within days of its opening.

Members of the school board hesitated during a meeting last December to call a bond election for March because of concerns about the future of the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station, Rains said. But they finally decided that the district’s needs could no longer be delayed and voted to set the election for Tuesday.

Later, the sprawling base south of Oxnard was added to the closure list, but local officials believe the facility, a naval weapons testing base, will not be shut down.

“We’re pretty confident that Point Mugu will be spared,” Rains said. “But either way, we can’t afford to wait any longer. Our needs our just too great.”

At Las Posas School in western Camarillo, teaching a student computer lab and warming a burrito in a microwave for lunch are incompatible.

Because the aging school--acquired by the district in the summer of 1958--has not had a major electrical upgrade since it was constructed, school administrators have to carefully measure electrical use to avoid shorting out whole wings of the school.

“We have had to become very accomplished at managing our electricity,” said Principal Mary McKee. “We have an outstanding computer lab--except when you run the microwave. We have learned to save frequently on our computers.”

When not battling the school’s electrical shortcomings, McKee has had to deal with water leaks and exploding or backed-up bathroom fixtures. And she has become expert in the conversion of utility closets to instructional spaces, she said.

“I won’t say that our physical plant problems have impacted our teaching,” McKee said. “But I will say that it has become an increasing challenge for us to not allow the buildings to get in the way of our instructional programs.”

At other schools, once-spacious libraries have been cut in half to provide extra classroom space. And teachers’ preparation areas are being used for special education, forcing the teachers to make offices out of what were utility closets.

Computer labs--filled with aging Apple computers--are so cramped that only half a class can fit at a time. Temporary portable trailers--once thought to be stop-gap measures--have become permanent parts of the campus.

While each campus has its own renovation needs, one thing students across the district share is the lack of a covered place to have lunch. District officials say the bond, if passed, will ensure that each school will get a covered lunch area to ward off summer heat and winter winds and rain.

And because of the district’s age, officials are also contending with the ongoing removal of dangerous, cancer-causing asbestos at 11 of the 13 campuses.

While parts of many school interiors are rapidly falling apart, a fresh coat of paint to the exterior can be misleading to residents, McKee said.

“People drive by and see that the walls are freshly painted and they think, ‘What’s the problem?’ ” she said. “All they would need to do is to get out of their cars and take a quick tour to see what we’re dealing with every day.”

The law requires two-thirds approval for a bond measure--a difficult task, the district has learned.

In the two previous bond elections, Camarillo voters came close to passing the bond with 59.9% and 64.3% approval margins respectively.

While the district has not encountered any organized opposition this time, officials say their biggest fear is of voter apathy.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding Point Mugu, the board of directors of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. has voted to refrain from taking a position on the bond election.

“Our board felt that there were just too many unknowns out there,” said Michael L. Saliba, the association’s executive director. “We felt it best to remain neutral on this one.”

So far, the Citizens for Measure G Committee has raised about $8,000 to finance its low-key campaign.

Organizers have posted bright yellow plastic banners on the front of each school outlining its needs and when renovations and repairs would be scheduled.

Additionally, the campaign committee has sent out mailers encouraging absentee voting, conducted telephone campaigns and today will hang thousands of colorful flyers on doorknobs reminding residents of Tuesday’s election.

Measure G has received support from local senior citizens, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and the district’s teachers and classified employees unions.

Rube Davis, a 13-year resident of Camarillo’s Leisure Village, said he believes most of the 3,100 residents of the retirement complex will support the bond.

“My sense is that this will pass,” said Davis, 88. “The amount that this bond will cost us is nothing compared to what it will cost us down the line if we don’t provide kids with a good education.”

Bill Torrence, president of the Ventura County League of Homeowners, echoed Davis. Torrence said he believes the bond will pass this time--in part because of solid support from the elderly.

“I think this thing is taking off,” said Torrence, a retired Camarillo Springs resident. “I think people around here have finally gotten the message about how bad our schools need these funds.”

School board member Jan McDonald, who witnessed the district’s two previous bond election failures, said she is guardedly optimistic that voters will say yes to Measure G.

“I believe this time the voters will respond,” McDonald said. “It’s pretty much a rarity to see a bond like this pass on the first or even second try. My focus now is getting out the vote. In an election where you need to two-thirds or better to win, virtually every vote counts.”