District seeking $282-million bond

Five years after voters passed a $110-million school bond measure,

district leaders are going back to the ballot, seeking $282 million

more.

At a special meeting on Wednesday, the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to place an item on the

November ballot that would allow the district to issue $282 million

in bonds for school renovations.

If voters approve the measure, which will appear on the special

election ballot Nov. 8, district officials say they will have the

resources to add new libraries and science labs, construct performing

arts centers and pay for long-awaited athletic facilities at Costa

Mesa’s two high schools.

During the last three years, the Measure A project -- paid for by

$110 million in bonds and more than $60 million in state matching

funds -- allowed Newport-Mesa to clean and repair its existing

buildings. While Measure A work is near completion, district

officials said the November proposal would go a step further by

adding new facilities.

“With a few exceptions, they are bright, shiny schools that are

still 20th-century schools,” said Paul Reed, deputy superintendent.

After about an hour’s discussion at the Wednesday meeting,

attended by a sparse crowd of school officials and residents, board

members agreed to add the ballot measure. While district officials

said they had not yet established priorities in terms of

construction, the proposals on Newport-Mesa’s bond project list

include constructing theaters at all four high schools, upgrading

technology in science classrooms and establishing a 7,000- to

10,000-square-foot teacher training center.

Mark Buchanan, the chairman of the district’s Facilities Advisory

Committee, said the construction work would probably take 10 to 15

years to complete. He noted that the expanded time frame would allow

the district to accommodate changing needs.

“What people want today may be different than what they’ll want in

five or 10 years,” Buchanan said. “This bond gives us the ability to

pursue things we can’t even imagine today.”

According to Buchanan, the new bonds will not increase residents’

property taxes beyond what they already pay for Measure A. The

average annual maximum payment for Measure A is $22.35 per $100,000

of a property’s assessed value, and Buchanan said the new bonds -- to

mature over a period of up to 40 years -- would not raise taxes above

that level.

Five years ago, a number of Newport-Mesa residents opposed the

passage of Measure A because they did not want to see their tax bills

increase. The Orange County Young Republicans campaigned against the

measure, as did Citizens for Equitable Taxation, a group consisting

of residents from Newport-Mesa’s five Mello-Roos districts -- areas

that pay special property taxes to finance local construction.

Despite this opposition, more than enough voters favored the

school renovations, passing Measure A with 72% of the vote in June

2000. The new measure will require 55% of the vote to pass.

School board president Serene Stokes said she expected the measure

to pass in November. She attributed the high price tag to the rising

cost of construction and materials, as well as the extended time

frame for the work.

The Measure A construction, which began in March 2003, is expected

to conclude by early 2007. The new renovations will take up to four

times as long.

“We’re not buying all the bonds on the same day -- just when tax

money permits it,” Stokes explained.

In January, the district formed an ad hoc Facility Advisory

Committee, consisting of about 70 district employees and community

members, to make recommendations for possible changes in the schools.

The committee’s mission was to look for areas in need of expansion or

repair.

Most of Newport-Mesa’s sites were built in the 1950s or 1960s,

around the time that the district first unified, although some date

even earlier. Newport Harbor High School, which opened in 1930, has

moved many of its facilities to portable classrooms in recent

yearsbecause some of its old buildings have become safety hazards.

The district’s bond project list, distributed at the Wednesday

meeting, calls for more changes at Newport Harbor High than at any

other site. Among the proposals are to renovate Davidson Field and

demolish a number of aged buildings, including the original gymnasium

and the historic Robins-Loats Hall, which housed the largest theater

in Newport-Mesa until it closed in 2003. The district will preserve

the structure’s clock tower facade, a popular symbol for the school.

“It will be so nice to move back into that new building,” said

Newport Harbor secretary Diane Tagami, who has worked out of a

trailer for the last two years.

Another major proposal in the bond measure is to pay for a new

swimming pool at Costa Mesa High School and an athletic stadium at

Estancia High School. Costa Mesa United, a community fundraising

group headed by school board member Dave Brooks, has spent the last

two years raising funds for both projects.

Buchanan and Brooks said that the money from the bond measure

could finish the project that Costa Mesa United began.

“That is a possibility,” Brooks said. “That’s something we’re

working on.”

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is proposing a

$282-million bond measure to improve facilities. The plans include:

* Demolishing the gymnasium and theater at Newport Harbor High

School and replacing them with new structures

* Upgrading science classrooms throughout the district

* Constructing performing arts theaters at all four high schools

in Newport-Mesa

* Revamping the campuses of Corona del Mar High School and Costa

Mesa High School to better separate seventh- and eighth-grade

complexes from high schools

* Establishing a 7,000- to 10,000-square-foot technology and

teacher-training center to serve the entire district

QUESTION

Would you support a $282-million school bond measure? Call our

Readers Hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send e-mail to

[email protected]. f7Please spell your name and tell us your

hometown and phone numbers for verification purposes only.

* MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or by e-mail at

[email protected].