ANTELOPE VALLEY: PAIR OF SCHOOL BOND MEASURES FAILING.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Two bond measures that would impose new taxes on property owners to help build more schools were failing Tuesday to draw the 55 percent voter approval they need to pass, according to early returns.

The $177.5 million Measure E was proposed to help the Antelope Valley Union High School District pay for high schools in southeast Palmdale and in either southwest Palmdale or west Lancaster, and to complete construction of Eastside High and expand Quartz Hill High.

Westside Union School District's $67.5 million Measure K was proposed to help build three elementary schools and a middle school.

If passed, Measure E would raise property taxes about $30 per $100,000 assessed valuation, which is slightly more than what property owners already pay on a high school bond measure passed by voters in 2002.

If passed, Measure K would raise property taxes about $27 per $100,000 assessed valuation.

Westside property owners already pay about $18 per $100,000 assessed valuation on a tax approved in 1989 that nine years later was extended until 2026.

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

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