MOORPARK HIGH WILL BUILD BOND HELPS LOCAL SCHOOL.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

MOORPARK - Moorpark High School will add a new gym, a music room and two science wings under a $13.6 million allocation from the state for new facilities, Superintendent Tom Duffy said Thursday.

Construction is set to begin as early as June on the new buildings and parking areas that officials hope will help ease overcrowding at the campus where enrollment has doubled in a decade.

``I'm delighted. It helps us to address the crowding at the high school, and Dr. Duffy has pulled another rabbit out of his hat,'' said school board member David Pollock.

``And once again it's something we're able to provide the taxpayer in the district without any supplementary assessments on their property taxes.''

Funding for the expansion is to come from Proposition 1A, a $9 billion school construction bond approved by the voters in 1998, Pollock said.

Final funding approval is expected from the State Allocation Board, which oversees payment of school bond construction money, when it meets later this month, Duffy said.

Construction will include:

--A 41,859-square-foot gymnasium on a vacant block on the northeast of the campus west of the athletics track,

--A two-story building with 20 classrooms in the center of the campus where 10 relocatable rooms are now located,

--Two science wings with a total of 17,580 square feet to the south of the campus,

--A 3,929-square-foot music room west of the baseball diamond.

Duffy, who plans to leave the district at the end of March for a lobbying position in Sacramento, chaired a committee set up by the State Allocation Board to advise legislators on how to allocate Proposition 1A money.

As a result of the committee's recommendations, a hardship clause was created that allows overcrowded schools to apply for some of the money, he said.

Duffy said the high school qualifies under the hardship clause because more than 30 percent of its classrooms are in relocatable buildings and because it has exhausted other possible funding avenues - including developer fees, borrowing, and two proposals for bond issues that were rejected by the voters.

Duffy said some preliminary construction work on the project, which has already been approved by the state, would begin in about the middle of June - after students are out of school for summer break. Work will be done in phases.

``It's a pretty significant amount of work that will take more than two years to complete at a minimum and probably more than that,'' Duffy said.