Leaders’ opinions of school bond vary

All of Newport-Mesa’s city leaders supported Measure A in 2000. Now, with a vote on Measure F around the corner, council members are divided.As the Nov. 8 special election draws nearer, the debate over Measure F -- the $282-million school bond that would renovate and modernize all the local campuses -- has escalated. Citizens for Quality Schools, the measure’s official campaign team, is calling voters five days a week to rally support, while the Orange County Young Republicans has distributed fliers urging residents to hold onto their tax dollars.

Somewhere in the middle of the spat are the elected officials of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, whose opinions vary from wholehearted support to skepticism and even disillusionment.

Five years ago, shortly before voters passed the Measure A school bond, all of the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa city council members interviewed by the Daily Pilot voiced support for the plan. This week, the local politicians -- only three of whom were on the councils in 2000 -- gave more disparate opinions, with some who favored Measure A less certain about the current bond.

“To my knowledge, they explained what Measure A would do and how it was going to be used,” said Newport Beach City Councilman Dick Nichols. “It was kind of, ‘Hey, this is why we need this amount of money.’ Somebody knew why they wanted that money and what they were going to use it for.

“It appears that this [new bond] is open-ended. ‘Let’s pick some number under $300 million and give them assurance that we won’t run the bond rate up higher than the other one.’ But there’s no assurance.”

Four officials -- Newport Beach Mayor John Heffernan and Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, and Costa Mesa Councilmen Gary Monahan and Eric Bever -- declared no opinion on Measure F. Others, however, were split between criticism of the school district’s plan and a firm desire to improve the schools.

Perhaps the most outspoken supporter of Measure F is Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who has two children at Sonora Elementary School. Foley has volunteered to call voters asking for support of the measure.

“I think it’s critical for us to modernize our schools to continue to be competitive, and we need the ability to issue bonds,” she said. “The beauty of it is that we don’t have to raise any taxes.”

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has promised that if Measure F passes, it will not lift the tax rate above the one approved for Measure A. Under the current bond, which is expected to end construction by early 2007, residents cannot pay more than $22.35 per $100,000 of their property’s assessed value to fund the school repairs.

If residents were funding both Measure A and Measure F simultaneously, their annual payment for both bonds could not exceed the $22.35 limit. However, some -- including the Orange County Young Republicans -- have argued that the new bond signifies a tax increase anyway, since it prolongs the period during which residents pay.

Some city council members said they didn’t mind paying more taxes, but they also wanted more information as to where the $282 million would be spent. The Measure F campaign team, chaired by Mark Buchanan, has outlined project lists for all of the district’s schools, but without priorities, or price tags, attached.

“Generally speaking, I’m in favor of keeping these schools up to date, and there’s very few sources to go to other than a bond measure,” said Newport Beach Councilman Ed Selich. “One thing that concerns me is seeing more detail on how they plan to spend the money -- a laundry list of projects and which school is going to get what.”

Newport Beach City Councilman Tod Ridgeway, a member of Newport Elementary School’s site committee for Measure A, counted himself neutral on the new bond. He explained that he was troubled by the amount of time Measure A took to repair his school, and that he felt the district was vague about the need for more renovations.

“I really love the schools,” Ridgeway said. “I think they’re an integral fabric to our community, but the school district didn’t do outreach. It never made a case for the amount of money they’re asking for, and they need to show me better construction management and better timing on delivery.”

Fellow Newport Beach City Councilmen Don Webb and Steve Rosansky, however, vouched support for the ballot item, saying that students’ needs come first.

“There’s a lot of deferred maintenance there that’s not been taken care of,” Rosansky said. “With the state budgetary crisis that we’ve had, a lot of it has trickled down to schools. Education is one of the most important things a government does, and we want to have an environment that’s conducive to learning.”

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor also said he favored the school renovations, but he questioned the district’s proposal to build a teacher training center from scratch.

“I want a measure that’s going to focus on schools,” Mansoor said. “To me, there are locations that could be used for training already, so until I see ... [the district’s plan], I have some reservations about it.”

Buchanan said the district’s Equity Advisory Committee, a residents group in charge of approving the Measure F projects, would have the final say on the training center. Unlike Measure A, the bond doesn’t have a list of priorities; rather, the district will submit plans to the advisory committee and wait for the residents to give the green light.

“While today there isn’t a specific list of what the district is going to propose initially, they’ve set up a mechanism to ensure that whatever is proposed is vetted and reviewed by representatives from each high school zone,” Buchanan said.

Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Linda Dixon, did not return calls for this story.