LONGER BOND TAX CONSIDERED FOR WESTSIDE SCHOOLS; EXTENSION WOULD REQUIRE VOTE.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer Rather than approach voters to approve a bond measure to pay for badly needed school facilities, Westside Union School District officials are considering asking the community to extend a measure it already adopted. Homeowners would pay the same amount they already are billed - about $30 on a house assessed at $100,000 - but for a longer period. ``We need to look at extending a bond as opposed to issuing a new bond,'' board member Larry Bosma said. ``We could go for a new bond, but that doesn't go well with people, or sit at the mercy of the state to give us more money. We have to think of things to generate our own income.'' A measure extending the bond tax past 2008, when it is set to expire, would require two-thirds approval of district voters to pass. Trustees have to decide by July if they want to place such a proposal on the ballot in the Nov. 3 general election. Westside voters in June 1989 narrowly approved an $8.5 million bond measure. The money went toward building Hillview Middle School Hillview Middle School is a public middle school in Menlo Park, California, part of the Menlo Park City School District. It is notable as having been named a California Distinguished School seven times. and Sundown, Leona Valley and Neenach elementary schools elementary school: see school. . The bond money also helped pay for improvements at at Joe Walker Middle School and at Valley View, Del Sur and Quartz Hill elementary schools. One possible scenario calls for extending the bond-issue approval for 18 more years, which could raise an additional $11 million to $18 million, trustee Gwen Farrell said. ``It would enable us to get back into the state construction program. It would boost our priority so that we would be in place for a 50-50 (funding) match,'' Farrell said. Officials say more facilities are needed in the district, experiencing 4 to 5 percent growth in student enrollment over last year. More than 6,200 students attend the district's 10 schools. One of the top priorities is building an elementary school in the Rancho ran·cho n. pl. ran·chos Southwestern U.S. 1. A hut or group of huts for housing ranch workers. 2. A ranch. Vista area of west Palmdale, said Lori Ordway-Peck, assistant superintendent Assistant Superintendent, or Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank. of business services. ``We've got overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. at Cottonwood cottonwood: see willow. cottonwood Any of several fast-growing North American trees of the genus Populus. Members of the willow family, cottonwoods have heart-shaped, toothed leaves and cottony seeds. The dangling leaves clatter in the wind. and Rancho Vista schools,'' Ordway-Peck said, and building a new school could prevent adopting a year-round school Year-Round School is the operation of educational institutions on a calendar-system that tracks students into class schedules throughout the entire calendar year. A primary motivation is that higher student throughput is accomplished via more effective scheduling of school schedule. Other possible projects include a middle school, a gymnasium at Del Sur School and a computer lab at Neenach School, officials said. Before any decision is made, Farrell said, the community will be consulted through workshops about extending the bond and how the money would be spent. ``It would be a nontax-increase. We would be simply lengthening lengthening (lengkˑ·the·ning), n the use of various massage or muscle energy techniques to relax and stretch muscle and connective tissue. the number of years,'' Ordway-Peck said. |
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