George Velarde said he hopes Gov. Schwarzenegger's $15 billion proposal on the March 2 ballot initiative won't steal the limelight from another important bond proposition -- a bond that could help his school district build several new classrooms.

"We are hoping it will pass," Velarde, the assistant superintendent of business services for Silver Valley Unified School District, said, "but the other propositions might hurt its chances."

Proposition 55, which provides a $12.3 billion bond for the building of new school and school renovations across California, could possibly assist Silver Valley and Barstow Unified School District in needed renovations and expansions.

At Silver Valley, the money could be used to build six additional classrooms at the high school valued at $1.8 million, renovating eight existing classrooms valued at $2.4 million, or building a $2.4 million, 10,000-square-foot technology library.

The three options are currently being discussed by the board and all three could be done independently, Velarde said.

Another measure that could affect Silver Valley Unified School District was part of a $33.5 billion defense appropriations bill President George W. Bush signed last September to fund the expansion at Fort Irwin.

The expansion will increase the post's population by 28 to 30 percent, public affairs officer Maj. Michael Lawhorn said.

The act will provide Fort Irwin with $17 million to build a new on-post elementary school, but additional funding is needed to house the additional students coming to Silver Valley High School.

"We have a good chance (at making renovations at the high school) if Proposition 55 is passed," Velarde said.

Velarde said the large influx of students will put the school district on the top of the list of schools who will receive funding through the proposed bond.

Proposition 55 states that "funds will be targeted to areas of the greatest need and must be spent according to strict accountability measures."

Under state law, school districts who wish to build new schools or upgrade existing schools must apply with the State Office of Public School Construction.

Once approved, a school district must pay for 50 percent of the project, while the state will pay for the other 50 percent. For modernization projects, the state will provide 60 percent of the funds, while the school district pays the remaining 40 percent.

Velarde said the school district is unique in that the Department of Defense helps fund school projects, so fulfilling the school district's percentage of the costs would not be a problem.

Down the road, Barstow Unified School District is hoping the bond passes so funding for modernization projects at Crestline and Skyline Elementary Schools and Kennedy Middle School could be funded, Tony Wardell, the district's chief business official, said.

Wardell said the school district will apply with the State Office of Public School Construction under a special "Hardship Provision," where the state will pay all of the costs for an approved construction project.

Wardell said the school district qualifies under the "Hardship Provision" because a current $14 million high school renovation project has left them strapped for cash.

If the bond passes, the district will seek $6 million to $8 million for the upgrades at the three schools, Wardell said.

Politicians opposing Proposition 55, who submitted rebuttals to the California Secretary of State's office, said proponents of the proposition promise to build schools statewide, but they don't mention that the money will only be spent in districts wealthy enough to raise the 40 or 50 percent matching funds.

"Half of the school districts received nothing from the last school bond," according to a rebuttal by authors State Sen. Rico Oller, Lew Uhler, president of the National Tax-Limitation Committee, and Henry Hough, vice president of the 60-Plus Association. "There is no guarantee that your school district will receive a penny from this bond, but you will be forced to pay it back."

Other rebuttals state that the $12.3 billion will dig the state deeper into a financial hole.

"At $12.3 billion, Proposition 55 rivals the largest bond in the history of any American state," Oller wrote. "We simply cannot afford it."

Arguments supporting the proposition in the voter's guide state that the proposition will "invest in our kids' future by fixing rundown classrooms and building new schools.

"California needs to build more than 22,000 classrooms to relieve overcrowding and deal with increasing student enrollment," authors Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association, Larry McCarthy, president of the California Taxpayers' Association, and Bill Hauck, co-chairperson of Californians for Accountability and Better Schools, wrote.

Other arguments in favor of the proposition state that school construction will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs throughout the state.