SACRAMENTO -- When voters go to the polls next month for the primary, they'll get a chance to complete the unprecedented job they began for schools in 2002.

On March 2, Californians will be asked to approve Proposition 55, a $12.3 billion bond for construction and modernization of the state's public elementary and secondary schools and colleges.

That follows the $13.05 billion bond for public school work that voters passed with 59 percent of the vote in 2002.

"People are extremely supportive of public education," said Jack O'Connell, the state superintendent of public instruction. "I am confident Proposition 55 will pass."

But if it doesn't, the measure will be back automatically on the November general election ballot under the terms of the law that placed the two bond measures of unprecedented size before voters.

That's not welcome news to opponents, who think bonds are the wrong way to pay for schools.

"It's a bad deal for taxpayers," said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a GOP activist group that's voted to oppose the bond. "It would be better to reform school construction and pay as you go."

The school bond also comes at a time when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is traveling the state and appearing on television to promote passage of his $15 billion deficit bond, also on the March 2 ballot.

There are some districts closing or considering closing schools, notably in the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Coast, Sacramento and San Diego because of declining enrollments or budget problems.

O'Connell acknowledged that some voters may get a case of "sticker shock" when they realize that there are nearly $30 billion in bonds on the ballot. But Schwarzenegger supports both bonds. He and educators said it is important to deal with both the schools' operational and construction needs.

The education bond supporters also stressed that there is overall growth, even though as O'Connell said, "the growth is not evenly distributed."

"What we have is an urban core where people are moving out and suburbs where people are moving and enrollments are hitting the roof," said Ian Padilla of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, a group of educators, business and other school construction advocates.

The bond, proponents said, is intended to address the problems of aging schools as well as a growing population they serve:

Seventy-three percent of the state's classrooms are more than 25 years old and a million children attend schools where some bathrooms that don't work, according to data distributed by the Yes on 55 campaign.

The number of students in public kindergarten through college is projected to grow by nearly a million students over the next decade. Next year alone, elementary and secondary schools are expecting another 65,000 students.
Passage of the bond, however, doesn't mean local districts are home free. They must come up with matching funds, 50 percent for new construction and 40 percent for modernization projects.

The state has $1.4 billion left from the 2002 bond, but it also has eligible applications for $16 billion in kindergarten through 12th-grade projects, said Ken Hunt of the Office of Public School Construction.

"We need to build 19 classrooms a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year just to accommodate growth," O'Connell said.

Spence, however, complained that at least part of the problem with existing schools is irresponsible school officials.

"No one is held accountable for allowing schools to get into the condition they are in now," Spence charged.

With the state likely facing interest payments about equal to the face amount of the bond, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office, Spence argued that there would be more money for schools if the state paid for them out of annual budgets.

He added that would be possible if state policymakers set the right priorities, streamlined the construction processes and ended union-pegged wages for the work done.

"To me, the first thing you do is stop the bleeding" of unnecessary interest payments, Spence said.

The Yes on 55 Committee disclosed $4.5 million on hand at the end of the Jan. 17 reporting period, plus an additional $1 million raised through Feb. 5.

But education bond advocates are taking no chances. They started running television advertisements four weeks before election day, compared to the usual two weeks, according to campaign consultant Kam Kuwata.

The outcome could depend on whether there is a big turnout by Democrats, who tend to be more supportive of the school bonds, or Republicans, who are more skeptical of bonds, said Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College.

That, in turn, may depend on the Democratic presidential primary and whether the Republican U.S. Senate primary catches fire.

Kuwata acknowledges the pitfalls, but predicted that in the end, Californians will come through for schools, as they have for all but one statewide school bond proposal in the 20 years.

"Californians, by and large, don't want to say to a school kid 'your education is not important,' " Kuwata said.

Information
How $10 billion to modernize and build elementary and secondary schools: would be distributed:

$2.44 billion for critically overcrowded schools (those that exceed by 210 percent of the recommended numbers of students per acre)

$2.25 billion for dilapidated and outdated schools

$5.26 billion to build new schools

$50 million for joint-use facilities, such as libraries or recreational facilities, between schools and cities

$920 million for repair and construction work at community colleges.

$690 million for work at the University of California

$690 million for California State University.