Seventy-seven out of 86 local school bonds across the state passed on Tuesday -- almost 90 percent of them, according to the California Department of Education.
In total, the bonds that passed will raise $21.8 billion for local school construction and modernization.
(Apparently, it's part of nationwide trend that defied the foundering economy: About 82 percent of bond issues across the country passed, representing $67 billion, according to a story in "The Bond Buyer." The approval rate -- 85 percent -- on the West Coast and in Alaska and Hawaii was higher than elsewhere in the country.)
Many of the school bonds in California passed with a more than the minimum required 55 percent of the vote, but less than the two-thirds threshold that was lowered by voters with the passage of Prop 39 in 2000. That proposition was spearheaded by then-state Sen. Jack O'Connell, who is now the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state.
In a statement, O'Connell said:
"While the vast majority of school bonds, school improvement facility districts, and parcel tax proposals were approved, I would point out that three of the four parcel tax proposals that were not successful won the support of an overwhelming majority of the voters, but failed to meet the two-thirds approval requirement. Eight years ago, California voters wisely agreed to lower the required vote threshold for school bonds from two-thirds to 55 percent. I continue to support lowering the voter approval threshold for parcel taxes to the same level."
All six measures that the Breeze was following, of course, passed -- even Centinela Valley's measure that required a two-thirds vote. Countywide, all 23 schools measures passed.
More detail on Tuesday's school measures (from the CDE release) follows:
Of the 10 school improvement facility district measures, nine measures passed totaling $458.7 million for local school construction and modernization projects. School facilities improvement district tax measures allow school districts to tax a portion of their districts, often new housing developments, or generate funds through general obligation bonds based on the value of the property.
Seventeen parcel tax measures were approved and four failed to win the 66.6 percent or two-thirds majority required for passage. A parcel tax is an assessment on a piece of property. If the parcel tax vote threshold had been lowered to 55 percent in this election, parcel tax proposals in Oakland, San Carlos, and Ojai would have passed and collectively raised approximately $14 million to support teachers and fund important educational programs.Measure S, proposed by the San Carlos School District, received 65.6 percent of the vote that is just short of the two-thirds voting requirement. However, votes are still being tallied. The district recently lost $584,000 when San Mateo County's investment pool lost an estimated $155 million in the failure of Lehman Brothers.
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