SCV CAMPUSES CLOSER TO IMPROVEMENT FUNDS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

California voters' overwhelming passage of Proposition 1A, the $9.2 billion school bond measure, is expected to bring construction and modernization funding to Santa Clarita Valley schools.

But there will be strings attached to that money, namely that local districts pay half the costs of building new schools and one-fifth the cost of modernizing and renovating aging campuses, school officials noted Wednesday.

In Tuesday's election, Proposition 1A was approved by 62.4 percent of the voters. The ballot measure will provide $6.7 billion of the bond revenue for public elementary, middle and high schools and the balance for public colleges and universities.

But each funding grant requires matching funds from individual school districts. In the coming months, local school boards likely will be mulling whether to put districtwide bond measures before Santa Clarita Valley voters - who have been cool to such proposals in the past.

The William S. Hart Union High School District, for instance, has only about $140,000 in debt remaining from the last bond local voters passed more than 20 years ago, said Bill Maddigan, the district's director of business and fiscal services.

Superintendent Marc Winger said the Newhall School District has applications with the state Education Department, seeking a combined $2.6 million in funds for modernization projects at Wiley Canyon and Old Orchard elementary schools.

``For each of those projects, I need to get a quarter-million dollars each. That's $500,000 that's not in our budget,'' Winger said.

The state funding, he added, ``is waiting for us. The problem is that we have to match it. In order to tap the (Proposition 1A) money that's just been approved, we need to tap the local funds,'' Winger added.

Winger said the Newhall district's challenge in the coming months is to make voters understand that the bond measure Californians just approved only tackles part of the job of adding and upgrading public schools. ``In order to get Newhall's share of it, we need to get a local bond,'' he said.

``I don't know that everybody realizes that what they approved was an 80 percent donation toward modernization and a 50 percent donation toward new schools,'' Winger added.

The Hart district, meanwhile, has submitted applications to the state Education Department seeking new construction funding to add high schools and junior highs to alleviate its overcrowding.

``The dollar amount of growth applications - that's applications for new schools - was second in the state only to the Los Angeles Unified School District,'' said Lew White, coordinator of facilities for the Hart district.

``That simply points up how badly in need we are of new schools. The applications can't be submitted without a district having much more students that we have permanent (classroom) housing,'' White said. ``The Proposition 1A funds can be part of the funding for those (new) schools.''

LATEST ELECTION RESULTS

Here are the latest returns for the election precincts 

Santa Clarita Area

Castaic Lake Water Agency

Board of Directors/At-large

115 of 115 precincts

Balcerzak (Inc) 21,618 67.2%

Lathrop 5,785 18.0%

Noltemeyer 2,574 8.0%

Roney 2,207 6.8%

Board of Directors/Division 1

37 of 37 precincts

Dunn 4,999 50.4%

Pfiester (Inc)4,916 49.6%

Board of Directors/Division 2

35 of 35 precincts

Kavounas 6,380 63.5%

Plambeck 3,664 36.5%

Board of Directors/Division 3

43 of 43 precincts

Froelich (Inc) 7,876 61.7%

Kotch 4,879 38.3%

CAPTION(S):

Box

BOX: LATEST ELECTION RESULTS (See text)