CAMPUS PROJECTS LANGUISH; SCHOOLS STRETCH BUDGETS.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

The cracks in the floors at Sequoia Middle School are getting longer, and the rust is still eating away at the bathroom fixtures at Newbury Park High.

And at Thousand Oaks High School, officials are looking forward to the end of El Nino, and the rain-flooded classroom and athletic fields.

More than a month after voters defeated a $97 million school bond measure - one that would fund major improvements at every school in the district - administrators and parents are scrambling to make conditions better while still making ends meet.

``Like most of the schools, we have never had any major overhaul work, and with some 2,300 students each day using the facilities over all these years you have to expect that they are going to show some fair wear and tear,'' said Jo-Ann Yoos, principal at Thousand Oaks High.

In a district that has been honored for maintaining a top-notch educational program year after year, few parents and residents in the community can criticize the district for its academics.

But many have been left wondering how and why Conejo Valley's school facilities have fallen into their current state of disrepair - with millions of dollars in critical repair, modernization and construction work accumulated.

``It's a horrible picture. Nobody likes to see the deterioration of our schools and we all want to make it better. But at the same time I can't help but wonder what happened over all these years?'' said Tommi Denney, a district mother whose daughter attends Meadows Elementary.

``Millions of dollars in that bond would have been spent for maintenance work alone. But I want to know why, if we have these maintenance crews and are spending something like $4 million on their salaries every year, this work hasn't been getting done?'' she said.

State funding declines

During the 1997-98 school year and extending through the summer, the Conejo Valley Unified School District expects to spend nearly $2.4 million on building and site improvements from its $111 million general fund. Repairs and leases will cost more than $4 million, with equipment adding an additional $1.6 million. And maintenance and operations salaries are expected to total $4.2 million.

``This district has used general fund money to do modernization projects - more and more as the schools have aged and as state funds have dropped,'' said Gary Mortimer, assistant superintendent of finance. ``But that ultimately takes away from the educational programs.''

At the same time, however, state matching funds to subsidize the district's deferred maintenance projects - a pot of money specifically set aside for such projects as replacing a worn roof, adding a new coat of paint or installing new air conditioning units - have continued to decline since an initial drop in 1985.

This past year, the Conejo district received about $390,000 from the state, or about 86 percent of the allocation - some years it has dipped below 50 percent.

Even for state funds earmarked for special programs, contributions have fallen short of meeting actual costs. The district secured about $1.5 million to implement class size reduction in first through third grade classrooms, but that still left about $2 million to be borrowed to cover the total cost of the program.

And with state contributions varying from year to year, school districts around the state have been struggling over uncertain budgets waiting for the numbers to match up, said Paula Mishima, chief policy adviser with the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin.

``There has been a very real crisis for all school districts as their buildings began to age and state funds continued to drop,'' Mishima said.

For the Conejo schools, that began in the late 1980s and early 1990s when schools built in the 1960s approached their third decade and the list of repairs began to grow.

Facilities and maintenance crews begin each year with a tour of the 26 school sites to compile a prioritized list of required projects.

``We have had to make choices. If the bathrooms are old and rusted but the toilet still flushes and then you also see that the roof is leaking, well then the roof will come first,'' said Jerry Gross, superintendent of the Conejo Valley district.

Last month, the board of trustees approved about $1.5 million in projects for the summer, some of the largest being a $140,000 item to replace the physical education courts at Newbury Park High School, $97,000 to re-roof the upper-grades classroom wing at Westlake Elementary, $85,000 to re-roof the administration building at Westlake Elementary and $77,000 to remove and replace the lower-grades play areas and drainage system at Meadows Elementary.

School administrators originally planned to spend closer to $3 million in renovation projects this summer, but with the failure of the bond those plans were cut in half.

``We had to eliminate some projects, so as always we stuck to the projects that had to get done to ensure the students' safety and those that had to get done during the summertime so as not to disrupt classroom instruction during the school year,'' Gross said.

Besides state maintenance funds, districts have few other options, according to Mishima. Developer fees can help cover the cost of new construction projects but not maintenance work, she said. That leaves the hope of increasing state contributions, which Gov. Pete Wilson has pledged in recent months to secure from the Legislature, and the possibility of a state bond being passed this year for several billion dollars.

Conejo officials said the option of bringing a local bond measure - perhaps a smaller one or a series of smaller ones earmarked for specific regions in the district like Newbury Park or Westlake - back to the voters for a third time is still being discussed.

District options

Denney enrolled her first two children, now in their mid- and late 20s, in the Conejo school district decades ago and was not satisfied with the educational programs the public schools offered. After some hesitation, she enrolled her third child, a 10-year-old, at Meadows Elementary and found herself surprisingly pleased.

``I have to say that these schools have become so much better in recent years, and I credit the increase in parental involvement in the schools for making a big difference,'' she said.

Still, Denney said she will not support a local bond measure until better ways can be found to finance maintenance projects and to save money for regular upkeep.

``I know we can't change the entire system of fund distribution in California, but what about other funds? I wonder if there are other ways the district could have made sure the repairs were done earlier,'' she said.

For one thing, the district's aging schools could have benefited from previous state bond money in a state modernization program that offers money to schools over 30 years old. In 1986, Moorpark Unified received nearly $300,000 to modernize two buildings at Flory Elementary and in 1996 secured a portion of Proposition 203 when it awarded about $1.2 million, much of which has been used at Chaparral Middle School, said Superintendent Thomas Duffy.

``But we had applications in with the state and were receiving nothing for years. Our eligibility was established, though, and we had waited so long that we were first in line when the 1996 bond passed,'' he said.

By the time the 1996 state bond passed, Conejo had 13 applications on file with the Office of Public School Construction for a share. Nine of those applications totaling about $13 million dated back to 1993, when the district originally asked for eligibility. That was one year later than school districts like Moorpark. Conejo and the 409 districts were put in a backlog of applications with a second-priority designation.

``With all the state bonds, the funds run out very shortly after they are passed because the demand is just so much greater than the money available,'' said David Zian, manager of the lease-purchase program with the Office of Public School Construction in Sacramento.

Over the past two years, the district has hired a Sacramento-based consultant to make sure it remains eligible for money if additional state bond money becomes available. An October 1997 letter from the state asked the district for an up-to-date summary of facilities and their needs as well as a study of the latest student body - documents necessary to justify continued eligibility.

Mortimer said those studies are completed each spring and the latest one will be submitted in the coming weeks at Zian's request.