ALAMEDA, Calif. — California school districts will ask their voters for almost $4 billion of general obligation bond authority this November, a much smaller amount than was at stake in the last general election.
Fifty-four districts will ask for $3.92 billion of bond authority, according to a document published by the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, an organization that supports school construction financing efforts.
That’s down sharply from the state’s last November general election in 2008, when 95 school districts placed bond measures on the ballot asking for more than $22.4 billion in bond authority, according to data published by California tax and election expert Michael Coleman at his website,
“Elected board members have been a little nervous — given the economy, given what they believe is anti-tax sentiment, they’ve been reluctant to put tax measures on,” said Larry Tramutola, president and founder of campaign consultants Tramutola LLC, which specializes in local tax elections in California.
The 2008 numbers were fueled by four bond authorizations over $1 billion each, topped by the Los Angeles Unified School District’s $7 billion measure.
The largest school bond measure on the ballot is from the Ohlone Community College District in Alameda County, which is asking for $349 million, the only measure asking for more than $300 million.
The largest K-12 bond measure comes from the San Marcos Unified School District in San Diego County, for $287 million.
School districts have a unique position among local issuers in California. Under Proposition 39, a state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2000, most GO measures for K-12 schools and community colleges can pass with a 55% majority.
Other local governments and agencies require a two-thirds approval rate to pass GOs.
Districts may be deferring their capital needs, but they won’t go away, according to Tramutola.
“Two years from now, there are going to be significant numbers, because the needs are not going to go away, and most districts can only put the Prop. 39 bonds on in even years,” he said.
One of the strings attached to Proposition 39 requires a school district, in order to pass a bond with a 55% majority, to hold its referendum in conjunction with another regularly scheduled election taking place throughout the district. Prop. 39 also caps the ad valorem tax rate the district can levy in connection with any single bond election.
After a long-running series of California budget crises that have resulted in reduced state operating support, many school officials are worried more about how to fill immediate general fund shortfalls rather than meet long-term building needs.
This November, 18 districts are asking voters to approve a parcel tax to support their ongoing operations, according to the Coalition for Adequate School Housing data. Parcel taxes, which must be approved by a two-thirds margin, are a form of property tax.
“If they’re thinking of taxing of any sort, their minds go to parcel taxes because that relieves the general fund,” Tramutola said.
One district, the Berkeley Unified School District, is asking for both a parcel tax and a GO bond.
In November 2008, there were 21 school parcel-tax votes, according to Coleman’s data. Seventeen passed.
In the June statewide primary, six of nine school parcel taxes passed.
Districts are not limited to regular election dates for a parcel tax referendum.
According to Coleman, between February and May of this year, 12 districts held special parcel tax elections, 10 of which passed.
In this year’s June statewide primary election, 20 school districts placed bond measures on the ballot, according to
Voters approved 15 ballot items worth $1.325 billion and rejected five worth $99 million.
According to Coleman’s data, there were 70 school bond measures in the November 2006 general election.
Voters approved 55 of them, authorizing more than $6.6 billion of GO debt. They turned down 15 ballot items that totaled more than $1.9 billion.
