School Bond Drive Runs Into Critics

The drive for a proposed $97-million school bond in Thousand Oaks drew its first public criticism Friday, when a local businesswoman filed with the county a statement opposing the measure.

Robin Westmiller’s brief statement will appear in an information booklet mailed to local voters before the November election. So will another statement, already filed, backing the bond that is intended to pay for upgrades and repairs to local schools.

In eight brief paragraphs, Westmiller, a former school board candidate, argues that the Conejo Valley Unified School District just finished paying off a previous bond measure and should not immediately go back into debt.

“Why are they so eager to plunge this community into a $97-million hole when we just got out of one?” she said Friday. “If you pay off your Visa card, you don’t turn around immediately and charge it to the max.”

The statement, signed by three other people, also contends the district does not need $97 million to repair its aging schools. A deferred maintenance plan submitted to the state by district officials lists just $21.6 million in repairs.

But district trustee Dorothy Beaubien said that figure represented just the bare minimum needed for repairs. And she noted that the bond will also pay for providing extra space to expand the state’s popular class-size reduction program.

“We absolutely need it,” she said.

Westmiller may have a tough time persuading voters not to approve the bond, according to a recent survey. In the random telephone survey, conducted in July, 90% of those polled said classrooms must be upgraded to provide better access to computers and new technology. More than 75% said they would be more likely to support a bond issue if the money went to refurbishing classrooms, libraries and science labs.

Westmiller said she is not planning to organize people against the bond. Rather, she hopes they will reject it for not making financial sense.

“The people in Thousand Oaks are fiscally responsible people,” she said. “They know dollars and cents.”

Bond backers will now have a week to submit to the county’s elections office a rebuttal to Westmiller’s comments. Westmiller, or other bond opponents, also has a week to rebut the statement supporting the bond. Those rebuttals, if submitted in time, will also appear in the information packet sent to voters.