3-3-04 Officials cite demographics, in-home education
By Eugene Tong Staff Writer Daily News
ACTON -- Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District officials are regrouping after local voters shot down a $13.1 million bond measure intended to build a permanent high school campus -- the third attempt at a proposal in less than two years.
The proposal known as Measure S won just 49.1 percent of the vote Tuesday, about 184 votes short of the 55 percent needed for passage. If approved, the school district would have been authorized to issue $13.1 million in bonds to replace the portable classrooms and gymnasiums that form Vasquez High School with grounded buildings.
"Our students have been housed in portable buildings for a very long time," said Linda Wagner, district chief administrator. "They lack basic facilities, including a cafeteria and a library.
"High school facilities are at the top of our priority list, and we hope to find a way to provide them for our students in the very near future."
This was the third school bond measure to fail in the Acton-Agua Dulce district in less than 18 months. Local voters defeated a $21.5 million bond measure in 2002 and a $13.1 million bond proposal last fall. Wagner said the school board will consider at its March 11 meeting whether to push another bond campaign.
"Most people in the communities of Acton and Agua Dulce are either retirees or have grown children," she said. "We also have a large number of residents who home-school their children. ... This makes passing a bond difficult."
For the measure's opponents, it was another step at preventing further alleged fiscal mismanagement at the school district.
"I'm thrilled. I'm ecstatic," said Eleanor Braun, a bond measure opponent from Acton. "And they better get the message."
Braun, part of a grass-roots opposition that has rallied against local school bonds, believes the district should get its financial house in order before going to voters for more money.
"The school district really needs to become fiscally solvent," she said.
A string of fiscal problems such as cuts in state funding and the declining student enrollment has crippled Acton-Agua Dulce in recent years. To help reduce costs in the 2004-05 school year, officials are considering such drastic action as staff cuts and even a school closure.
Just last month, district Superintendent Don Banderas was ousted from his post amid disagreements with the school board.
Bernard Schwab of Agua Dulce also opposed the bond measure, but he was willing to meet officials halfway and find a solution.
"This town is very divided," Schwab said. "We are not celebratory because it's the kids who are suffering. But you have to do it the right way."
Vasquez High Principal Steve Pinkston said the distrust between both sides of the issue must be bridged for the bond to stand a chance at the ballot box.
"There are 100 different reasons why people don't do things," Pinkston said. "Some are kind of absurd and some are legitimate. We have to take our time and go through it and figure out what we need to do."
Meantime, students at Vasquez High reacted to the loss with defiance. Stefanie Harbeson, a senior, is forming a campus beautification committee with about 30 students to improve the dry, wind-swept school grounds and raise funds for new buildings.
"The last two times, the students were upset and angry," said Harbeson, 17. "But we didn't do anything because we knew we could have another chance in so many months. But now we probably won't have another chance for a few years. We're not going to sit around and do nothing."
Acton-Agua Dulce board President Steven Harbeson is pleased with the students' initiative.
"At first I was very disappointed," said Harbeson, Stefanie's father. "But after seeing the resilience of our kids and what they have done on their own, I'm very proud. I think it shows some of the naysayers our kids are very, very strong and, as a community, I think we should be devoted to them."