BURBANK VOTERS PONDER SCHOOL REPAIR BOND.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Asked if Burbank voters should approve a $112.6 million school construction bond, Burroughs High School sophomore Joe Valenzuela tells the story of how a ceiling tile fell on his head during math class last year.

He talks about how he decided to quit the swim team because the school pool was always being shut down for repairs. And he recalls how his favorite subject during last week's heat wave was Spanish because his class is held in a portable trailer that has air conditioning - unlike the rooms in the main building at the 70-year-old school.

``That's the highlight of my day,'' he said.

While Valenzuela will likely have to sweat it out through graduation, Burbank voters will decide April 8 whether to approve a bond measure that would bring major renovations, including air conditioning, to Burroughs and the 18 other public schools in Burbank.

City voters last approved a school construction bond in 1953, about the time Burbank built its newest school.

A similar measure failed two years ago. But school boosters say they learned from their mistakes last time and have launched an aggressive campaign to get the two-thirds majority needed for victory.

Supporters, who are manning phone banks six days a week and walking neighborhoods on weekends, say the need for reconstruction at district campuses is critical.

District officials estimate the bond would cost the average taxpayer $44 per $100,000 of the assessed value of their home.

Bond opponents are decidedly less organized and, some say, silent because it's not politically correct in Burbank to oppose the bond, said Joel Schlossman, who wrote the ballot argument against the bond.

Burbank Councilman Ted McConkey, who has not decided if he will support the bond or not, agreed with Schlossman's assessment.

``They're almost making it an issue of patriotism,'' McConkey said. ``If you don't support the school bond, you're a rotten citizen. I absolutely opposed it the last time around, and there are people who still hate (me).''

Schlossman questions both the school district's estimate of how much the bond will cost taxpayers and the need for the level of repair work that is proposed.

``They're taking a kind of grandiose approach to it. They're acting like a kid in a candy store,'' he said. ``They do not need $80 million to rebuild two high schools. Our school board has taken the easy way out.''

Anita Davy, who has two daughters in Burbank schools, worked on the 1994 bond campaign and has once again volunteered her time for the 1997 effort.

``Burbank has this brand new Police and Fire Department building, the new McCambridge Park and a new mall. What does it say if we don't fix our schools?'' Davy said. ``We moved here for the schools. I called and got test scores.''

On Thursday, she spent the afternoon stuffing envelopes full of literature to be mailed to undecided voters at the Yes on B97 campaign office on Olive Avenue.

From Sunday through Thursday night, volunteers man the phones, calling voters in their own neighborhoods to try and convince them to vote yes. The goal is to get 10,000 people to commit over the phone to vote yes by April 4. There are 51,000 registered voters in Burbank, but only 9,089 of them cast ballots in the city's primary election last month.

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Chart: BURBANK SCHOOL REPAIR AND CONSTRUCTION BOND