DISTRICTS FORM UNITED FRONT; AREA SCHOOLS OFFICIALS SEEK LEVERAGE ON NEW DEVELOPMENT.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Public school districts, all struggling with crowding and a shortage of funds to build more campuses, have united to pressure home builders to relieve the problem rapid development has created.

The Saugus Union School District board passed a resolution Tuesday asking the city and Los Angeles County to require residential developers to adequately reimburse the district for the new students their homes will attract.

The Newhall School District board of education will consider a similar measure Tuesday, said Newhall Superintendent Marc Winger. The Castaic, Sulphur Springs and William S. Hart school boards are expected to follow suit this month, he said.

``The intent is to show a unified front, that the city and the school districts in this valley still expect mitigations,'' Winger said. ``If you're going to develop, you're going to have to address school needs.''

In a memo to the Saugus school board, Superintendent Gail Wickstrom said California voters' passage of Proposition 1A, the November ballot initiative that provides $9.2 billion in funding to public schools and colleges, ``changed the state's school facilities construction rules.''

Santa Clarita spokeswoman Gail Ortiz said the city also is concerned about the ramifications of the new state law.

``Here's how we see it - the law that recently passed pretty much ties the hands of the school boards, in that the city can no longer deny development (proposals) based on whether or not an agreement exists between a developer and a school district,'' Ortiz said.

Before the passage of Proposition 1A, the City Council and Planning Commission had more leverage to require home builders to provide funding or land so a district could construct a school for the new students who move into the area, she said. That has changed.

``We cannot hold up a development or deny it because of the lack of an agreement (between the schools and the developer),'' Ortiz said.

The resolutions from the five districts are meant to reinforce the city's ``pay as you go'' philosophy toward home builders and make it clear to developers that the city is united with the school districts.

``(The city) has a General Plan and . . . we have a policy for development, which states: Pay as you go. There must be adequate infrastructure in place before residents can occupy new development,'' she said.

``None of this, We'll build the sidewalks later, we'll build the schools later,'' Ortiz added.

The resolution also will be sent to Los Angeles County planning officials, because the Santa Clarita Valley's five school districts include territory outside the city limits.

Much of the new home construction takes place on county territory, where the standards about providing school facilities are different, often forcing the school districts to look elsewhere for money to build new schools.

``What has been happening is that development goes on just outside our (city) boundaries. Then (the residents) request annexation into the city,'' Ortiz said.

``We're in the position of playing catch-up . . . in terms of infrastructure,'' she said. ``We're all between a rock and hard place, and the ones who are going to suffer on this are the schools. We totally empathize with the schools.''

Winger said that the five-school resolution is just one more strategy - along with the $35.5 million bond that will be decided June 8 in the Newhall district election - aimed at alleviating the demands of rapid enrollment growth.

``They're all pieces of coping with growth and aging schools, and trying to keep (Newhall) a first-class school district,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

Box

BOX: Housing boom

The following shows the number of houses/multi-family units projected over the next five years in the Santa Clarita Valley.