SCHOOL BOND LOSES.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

The Palmdale School District lost its second bid in nine months to pass an $81 million construction bond measure.

The measure gained a majority of the votes but fewer than the two-thirds approval needed to pass, despite school officials scheduling open houses Tuesday night to bring parents to schools, where most of the polling places were located.

Although about 550 provisional ballots remain to be counted, they are too few to get the yes vote above 66.6 percent. About 17.5 percent of registered voters came out Tuesday to cast ballots.

An identical measure narrowly failed in June, though it secured more than 65 percent of the 4,637 votes cast. But, like this time, it needed 66.6 percent to pass.

This time, school officials said their situation was more desperate. The state has changed its funding policies, and will only consider aiding school construction projects that already have half of their financing from local sources.

Intended to build seven new schools and refurbish four older ones, the bond measure would have been financed over 40 years by taxing property owners at a rate of about $27.93 a year for a house assessed at $100,000.

Besides building seven schools, the bonds were to help pay for refurbishing Manzanita, Juniper, Tamarisk and Yucca by upgrading fire alarms, repairing asphalt playgrounds and redoing roofs.

While Palmdale's population growth slowed in the 1990s, school officials say they need to build more schools because enrollment continues to increase.

Since 1986, the student population has ballooned by 264 percent to more than 18,000 pupils. They are packed into 18 schools that were originally designed to accommodate 12,000 students. The enrollment is expected to hit 20,000 in two years.