Anaheim to Vote on Bonds, Taxes

ANAHEIM — Voters will be asked in April to approve a bond issue that would increase property taxes by $22 a year per $100,000 assessment to build classrooms and upgrade aging campuses.

Trustees of the Anaheim City School District voted 4 to 1 Tuesday night to place the $48-million bond issue on the ballot, the first such bond measure in more than 30 years.

“The situation is critical enough that we have no choice but to leave [the decision] in the hands of the voters,” said trustee Christopher B. Whorton.

Since 1985, enrollment in the district has nearly doubled to 20,300 students, 7,000 more students than the schools were meant to accommodate, officials said. At 10 of the district’s elementary campuses, enrollment exceeds 1,000, well over the state-recommended maximum of 650 students per school.

No new campuses have been built in the district since 1967. The state has approved an allocation of $15 million for the district, as the money becomes available, with the district on a waiting list.

Supt. Roberta Thompson said the bond money would be used to buy portable classrooms and land for new schools and to upgrade existing schools. The bonds would be repaid with revenue from the property tax increase.

The district currently uses 200 portable units to relieve overcrowding. And all of the district’s 22 elementary schools are on a year-round schedule. A 70-member committee is also studying the option of having double sessions on campuses.

Trustee Harald Martin opposed the bond measure, saying an immediate solution should be explored instead.

“Double session is being used as a red herring to scare parents into believing we need a bond measure,” Martin said. The district, he said, has enough money to invest in portable classrooms, which would eliminate the need for double sessions.

But Thompson said that even if the bond measure passes on April 14, some double sessions will be needed while schools are built. She said she expects some double sessions as early as July.