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Published on 10/19/1998 All articles from this issue

Los Altos School District will likely see little of Prop. 1A funds

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Proposition 1A, the $9.2 billion school construction bond that will be on the Nov. 3 ballot, promises to provide $6.7 billion for California's public K-12 classrooms and $2.5 billion for its higher education facilities.

The proposition comes at a time when about 55 percent of California's public schools are in need of "extensive repair," and the state expects it will need more than 2,000 new schools by 2002 to accommodate growing enrollments, according to reports released by the State Department of Education.

Additional funding sounds good for schools, but local educators say a lot of "ifs" will have to fall into place before the Los Altos School District could benefit from Proposition 1A.

Superintendent Marge Gratiot said the district would only be eligible for state bond money if Measure H, the district's local construction bond, passes.

If Measure H passes, the school district would be eligible for state money, but would be far down the list, below school districts that have already passed local bonds.

The bond money could run out before Los Altos schools reach the top of the list, Gratiot said.

Gratiot said if the district does receive money, it will only qualify for $3 million in matching funds, at most, to be used only for modernization projects.The Fremont Union High School District expects to be eligible for $27 million in matching funds if the proposition passes since district residents passed a bond measure last April, said superintendent Joe Hamilton.

MEASURE H IMPACTS: In response to reader inquiries about the cost implications of Measure H, the Los Altos School District's $94.7 million construction bond, here's one last update on the proposed measure that will be on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

If passed, the bond will cost property owners about $54 for the next 25 years for each $100,000 of assessed valuation of their homes.

The $94.7 million is 1.25 percent of the total assessed value of the district currently, the maximum limit the district can ask for according to state law.

Superintendent Marge Gratiot said the median figure for the assessed value of homes within the district is $200,000 or less. She said about 30 to 40 percent of the homes have been currently assessed at less than $100,000.

That means about half of the residents living in the district will pay less than $120 per year for 25 years, and half will pay more than that, Gratiot said.

If passed with the required two-thirds majority vote, Measure H promises to relieve overcrowding and to repair and rehabilitate the district's nine schools, which school officials say are old and out of date.