23 bond issues seek new funding for schools

A staggering 23 school bonds appear on the November ballot across Los Angeles County, including some of the most expensive ever. Topping the list is Measure Q, a $7-billion request from the Los Angeles Unified School District that is the largest ever for a California school district. Another, Measure J, would provide $3.5 billion for the Los Angeles Community College District.

Backers anticipated that voters who turn out for the presidential race are likely to approve the bonds, which are paid for by property tax increases.

But with other spending measures on the ballot too, and a looming financial crisis nationwide, bond supporters are keen to reassure voters. Every entity mentions that its bond features independent citizens' oversight; nearly all talk about independent audits and interest rates variously described as legal, low, lawful, "the lowest possible" or "below legal limits."

Sixteen measures emphasize no money for administrators. The Westside Union and William S. Hart districts, north of L.A., add that teachers won't get any of the cash either.

"Especially in today's tough times, what people don't want to do is vote for measures that will take money from public funds and pay for salaries," said Rick Taylor, campaign manager for Measure K of Long Beach Unified.

These touted consumer protections are part of the state's rules, approved in a 2000 statewide ballot initiative, that lowered the voter approval threshold from two-thirds to 55% for such funding requests.

The Long Beach measure, at $1.2 billion, is the county's third largest. That city's landowners are paying off a 1999 school bond at about $30 a year per every $100,000 of assessed property value. The new bond would raise taxes by $60 per $100,000.

Voters living in L.A. Unified territory will consider the mammoth Measure Q, which works out to about $10,000 per student in the nation's second largest school system. That's still less per student than 10 of the 21 other school bonds. The L.A. bond follows four other such measures since 1997.

The district's pitch is that, under the new bond, the tax rate would not surpass the maximum rate under existing bonds, which is about $185 for every $100,000 of assessed property value. But taxpayers would pay at those rates for years longer.