BOND TO ADD HIGH SCHOOLS VOTERS FACING $103.6 MILLION DECISION.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - With its high schools built for 11,000 students but packed with nearly 20,000, the Antelope Valley Union High School District is seeking voter approval of a $103.6 million school construction bond measure.

Proponents say Measure V on the March 5 ballot will relieve severe overcrowding in the high school district, which is expecting to add more than 6,300 students to its rolls by 2006.

``Overcrowding is by far the biggest argument,'' said Donita Winn, chairwoman of the committee to pass Measure V. ``... By looking at the feeder schools without anyone moving in, they are expecting over 1,200 (more students) next year. Then the year after that, 1,003. It goes along like this until there are 6,000 kids in the next five years. That's two 3,000-student high schools right there.''

The district is attempting to pass the bond measure under Proposition 39, the 2000 state ballot measure that lowered the approval level needed to 55 percent rather than the standard two-thirds majority.

If approved, homeowners would be taxed $29.25 per $100,000 assessed valuation for the next 30 years.

The money would pay for the construction of the $70 million William J. ``Pete'' Knight High School proposed for 70th Street East and Avenue R-8. It would house 3,000 students.

The bond would also pay for the construction of the R. Rex Parris continuation high school at Avenue Q and Sixth Street East; two campuses, one in Palmdale and one in Lancaster, for Phoenix High School, the district's last stop for expelled students; and would modernize Antelope Valley, Palmdale and Quartz Hill high schools.

If California voters in November pass a school construction bond measure and provide matching funds, the district would also be able to build another high school in west Antelope Valley; expand capacity at Highland High School to 4,000 students; and make improvements at Highland, Lancaster, and Littlerock high schools.

There appears to be no organized local opposition, but the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is opposing Measure V's passage as well as other bond measures put forth under Proposition 39.

``We have had the two-thirds vote for more than 100 years. It's intended to protect property owners. The problem is when we lower the threshold to 55 percent from two-thirds, that leaves property owners, particularly homeowners, vulnerable to well-organized and well-financed campaigns with people with a vested interest in passing bonds, including bond underwriters, bond attorneys and people in the school construction industry,'' said Jon Coupal, the association's president.

Palmdale School District was the first Antelope Valley district to succeed in passing a school construction measure under Proposition 39, squeaking by with a 25-vote margin after absentee and provisional ballots were counted.

Like Palmdale, the high school district would be required to establish a citizens committee to monitor spending of the bond money.

Since the passage of Proposition 39, 34 school districts have passed bonds under the 55 percent approval level and one failed. Hesperia Unified School District in San Bernardino County failed to pass a $5 million bond measure, securing 35.9 percent of the vote.

The Quality Schools for Students Yes on Measure V committee has so far raised about $100,000 in cash and pledges, Winn said.

About $66,000 came from four businesses and two attorneys, R. Rex Parris and Walt Kuzyk.

A $91 million high school construction bond measure failed to pass in November 1999. After supporters spent about $120,000, to negligible opposition, it garnered 63 percent of the vote but fell short of the two- thirds majority needed to pass.

Winn, who spearheaded Lancaster School District's successful bond campaign in March 1999, has so far secured resolutions of support from the boards of the Lancaster, Palmdale, Westside and Keppel Union school districts.

The high school district expects to spend nearly $2 million to install relocatable classrooms on its campuses to handle next school year's influx of students.

Winn said Highland High School will get two-story portable buildings. ``They are stacking them one on top of one another,'' Winn said.

The older campuses at Antelope Valley, Palmdale and Quartz Hill high schools are in need of repair, Winn said. Palmdale High School opened in 1958, and Quartz Hill in 1964.

Antelope Valley High School originally opened in 1912 but moved to its current site in 1916. A renovation of the majority of the school's buildings was done in the mid-1950s.

``One parent made the comment, 'I wouldn't work in an office like the classrooms that I send my kids to all day.' It's drafty. Most campuses don't have an air-conditioning system, period, and the heating system is hurting and barely adequate. The lighting is poor,'' Winn said.

``At Quartz Hill, the wiring is crumbling, falling apart. It is a hazard, it really is,'' Winn said. ``At Palmdale, the ceiling tiles, you never know when one is going to fall.''

Palmdale High maintenance workers told Winn that plumbing parts can't get replaced because they are no longer made.

``The maintenance person was telling me when plumbing is in disrepair, they take the parts to the plumbing store, and they say, 'What's that?''' Winn said.

``When you drive by it looks fine, but when you get into the nuts and bolts of it, they need repair,'' Winn said.

A survey conducted by a district consultant showed that 60 percent of the people polled would support a bond measure. The survey, however, was done before the flap erupted over trips taken by former trustee Darrel Brown and his girlfriend, Linda Solcich, who is the district's spokeswoman, and his votes to promote her. Brown has since resigned.