Districts keeping eye on November vote

Andrew Wainer

If voters give a thumbs up to the Huntington Beach Union High School

District’s $123-million bond on Nov. 9, other districts may follow suit,

local educators said.

Huntington Beach City School District, which estimates it needs $40

million to modernize its schools, will conduct a survey later this year

asking voters how the outcome of the Nov. 9 vote might affect a future

bond election of its own.

Although the district’s board of trustees has been debating how to fund

the modernization of its schools for years, the board recently voted to

contract the Price Research consulting agency to help it gauge community

support for a possible bond election. Huntington Beach City School

District administrators also said they support issuing a bond, and

concede that if the Nov. 9 bond election passes, it would bode well for

their own election.

“I think if they [Huntington Beach Union High School District] win their

election it will have a positive impact on our own possible bond,”

Assistant Supt. Jerry Buchanan said.

High school district Supt. Susan Roper cautioned that all districts may

not receive the same support from the community, but she acknowledged

that the Nov. 9 vote will closely watched by others contemplating a bond

election.

Even Huntington Beach City School District trustee Brian Garland, who

voted against contracting with consultants to conduct the survey, said he

might support a bond.

Bond issues historically have been extremely difficult to pass in Orange

County.

But a $13.8 million bond approval in the Buena Park School District in

November of 1998 broke a 23-year trend in the county, and was followed in

June of this year by a $27 million bond in the Brea Olinda Unified School

District.

Buena Park Supt. Carol Riley said the victory silenced critics who

claimed “a bond election couldn’t be won in Orange County.”

The Huntington Beach Union School District will offer public tours of its

high schools from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, to show the public the

schools’ infrastructure prior to the Nov. 9 bond election. Principals

will be on hand to lead the tours starting at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Asst.

Supt. Patricia Koch said the open house is part of the district’s ongoing

campaign to provide the public with information regarding the bond

election.