CALIFORNIA CITY HIGH SCHOOL PLAN REJECTED : MOJAVE TRUSTEES OPPOSE PARCEL TAX MEASURE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Mojave Unified School District trustees have voted down a plan to build a high school in California City and turn Mojave High School into a middle school as part of a proposed $55 million parcel tax.

The plan, proposed by trustee Richard Hall, drew heavy opposition from Mojave residents but was supported by California City residents who said they wanted a high school in their own community.

``It's difficult to get anything passed on the ballot, anything that's raising taxes,'' said board member Connie Biehl, who voted against the plan. ``The economic climate of our area works against that. People are not willing to pass anything right now.''

The board voted 3-1 at Tuesday's meeting to reject placing a parcel tax measure on the November ballot following a series of meetings at which they took public comment. The dissenting vote was cast by Wayne Dickerson. Hall, who also is the mayor of California City, was absent because he was sick.

With between 70 to 80 percent of the nearly 600 students at Mojave High School bused in 15 miles or so from California City, Hall said California City residents want a high school in their community.

Hall said Wednesday he expected the idea of building a high school in California City would be rejected, but he had hoped the board would approve a parcel tax to pay for other facilities improvements.

``We still need a cafeteria and classrooms at Richard P. Ulrich Elementary School,'' Hall said. ``We have matching funds from the state, and we still need our share to deal with that. We need to put it on the ballot. If people don't want it, let them say they don't want it. It's not the decision five people should be making.''

Biehl said she wants the board to go back to the drawing board to come up with another plan that all the trustees can support with a united front.

``We need a clear plan,'' Biehl said. ``It should be more precise in the amounts, what we're really interested in doing. There was talk of curbing it down to what needs are. We don't want to abandon everything.''

Under the proposed parcel tax, based on the 70,000 parcels in the district, officials estimated that residents would pay about $80 per parcel per year over a 10-year period.

Other elements of Hall's plan included closing and renovating Joshua Middle School and reopening it as an elementary school; closing and remodeling Mojave Elementary School and reopening it as quarters for the continuation high school, adult school, and the district office; buying land west of Robert P. Ulrich Elementary School to expand the cafeteria and build new classrooms; and setting aside $1 million to pay for new programs and textbooks.

The Mojave Town Council, a nongovernmental body, earlier released a statement stating its opposition to closing Mojave High School and the parcel tax.

``Placing this proposal on the ballot now will undo the cooperation we have been able to build between Mojave and California City plus cost the district thousands of dollars,'' wrote council president Bill Deaver. ``While we in Mojave understand the desire of people in California City to have their own high school, we will not support closing the school we worked many years to build.''

The Mojave district has an enrollment of about 3,000 students at three elementary schools, two middle schools, a high school and a continuation school.

Trustees last June indefinitely tabled a proposal to put a parcel tax on the November 1995 ballot to pay for construction of a second elementary school in California City, citing declining enrollment.

At that time, the district for the first time in 30 years had experienced a drop in student numbers, with enrollment dipping by 130.

The district convinced voters in November 1989 to approve a $6 million parcel tax to build California City Middle School, which opened two years ago. That parcel tax applied only to land in California City and surrounding areas.

A similar school-construction parcel tax measure in March 1989 aimed at the entire Mojave district narrowly failed to gain the required two-thirds majority.

That defeated measure would have raised money for a gymnasium and six new classrooms at Joshua Middle School in Mojave as well as the California City school.

Unlike an initiative in which the district would sell bonds to raise money,the parcel tax would not require the district to pay interest on the money it receives, officials said.