Prop. 55 targets schools most in need of repairs or relief from overcrowding

Students shiver inside portable classrooms where the air is colder inside than out. "We're freezing," says Chelsey Poole, 15, her black parka zipped all the way up.

The antiquated heating system isn't working. In some portables, teachers plug in small electric heaters they've brought from home, running the risk that they'll overload the electrical system.

"We haven't had heat all year in our portable," says Nick Salibrici, a United Teachers of Richmond (UTR) member who teaches 11th-grade English. "In fact, we've rarely had heat over the past several years. They fix it, and it goes down again."

At Kennedy High School, which has a student population from an economically disadvantaged section of Richmond, lots of things are broken. No major work has been done since the school was built in 1967. The reason is simple: There's no money available.

Unfortunately, no major work may ever be scheduled for schools like Kennedy, unless the state provides additional money. That's where Proposition 55 comes in.

The $12.3 billion bond measure on the March ballot will provide clean, safe facilities and relieve overcrowding in schools that are most in need of repairs or have the biggest problems with overcrowding. Prop. 55 will provide matching funds to districts and hardship funds to those that qualify. Strict accountability standards guarantee that funding will go directly to where it is needed - and not be spent on bureaucracy.

Prop. 55 is the second half of a massive effort designed to help improve the appalling condition of schools throughout California. Voters approved the first half, Prop. 47, by 59 percent in 2002. Prop. 47 provided $13 billion to improve outdated and dilapidated facilities and relieve overcrowding by building new classrooms and schools. However, the funds it generated are already committed even though the job of repairing schools and building new classrooms is only half complete.

Proceeds from the passage of Prop. 55 will be divvied up as follows: $10 billion to repair existing K-12 schools and build new ones; $2.4 billion to remedy problems at critically overcrowded schools; $920 million to renovate community college facilities; and $690 million each to renovate California State University and University of California facilities.

It is not a tax increase. By passing Prop. 55, voters will authorize the sale of a general obligation bond to be repaid by prioritizing existing state general fund revenues.

California can afford Prop. 55 despite the economy, says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "In fact, we cannot afford to wait to make needed repairs. With interest rates at all-time lows, it's more cost-effective to invest in schools today. If we wait to address our school and classroom needs until later, it will be even more costly."

"It's terrible to have our students attending a school that is so poorly maintained," says UTR member Jim Ellis, a teacher on special assignment and school site coordinator at Kennedy High in Richmond. "It's like telling these students that they aren't worth much. Many of them lack self-esteem anyway. It's just not right. When we invest in our facilities, we invest in our students."

The conditions at Kennedy are down right depressing. Since at least 70 percent of the lockers are unusable, students must carry all their books around with them. Entire rooms are in such a state of deterioration, they are considered too dangerous to use. Some biology classes designed for 24 students pack in nearly 40 bodies while valuable classroom space is relegated to storage.

Classrooms, in many cases, have illegal wiring, uneven flooring, broken asbestos floor tiles and chalkboards that are so badly chipped, there's very little surface to write on.

Hands-on experiments in the school's science labs are next to impossible because there's no gas or running water at the stations.

Even though the school has up-to-date computers, the outdated electrical system cannot accommodate the school's computer labs. Between 1 and 2 p.m., when two computer labs are held concurrently, power outages occur with annoying frequency. Students try to save their work every few minutes in anticipation of power failures, but sometimes they forget. "It makes for extremely unhappy students and teachers," says UTR member Douglas Frew, the school's technology coordinator and network administrator.

Teachers do not have phones in their classrooms, even though the campus is located in a high-crime area. In the event of trouble, teachers are supposed to push a "panic button" in their classrooms and then run a few feet away to a microphone to speak to someone in the main office. However, if someone in the office is already on the phone, teachers can't get through.

So many ceiling tiles have fallen in the school gym, the ceiling looks like Swiss cheese. The bleachers are on the verge of collapse. Showers in the locker rooms offer cold water only.

But it's the bathrooms that students complain about the most. When the plumbing system goes down, leaving the bathrooms without water for most of the day, students have to "hold it." Because the sewer line is antiquated, it happens frequently.

Other schools in the West Contra Costa School District are in even worse shape. Repairs are scheduled at some of the sites, and others have been modernized already with a combination of state and local bond money. However, because money is running out, Kennedy will probably have to wait - unless new bond money provides relief.

Kennedy High is not an isolated example of school deterioration and neglect in the state. Seventy-three percent of California classrooms are more than 25 years old, and 1 million children attend schools with bathrooms that don't work.

In many parts of the state, the problem is not deterioration and neglect. It's lack of seat space.

Los Banos Unified School District, for example, is bursting at the seams. Over the past decade, the number of students has grown 67 percent to 8,231, and is projected to increase by another 4,800 over the next decade. The district uses 260 portable classrooms to deal with overcrowding, but some schools are running out of places to put them.

And school construction has not kept up with school enrollment.

Research shows that students in overcrowded schools score significantly lower than other students on both math and reading.

The need for bond money to build new classrooms and schools is urgent in Los Banos. The community came close to passing a local bond measure in November, and plans to try again soon. But organizers fear that without a state bond measure to provide matching funds, it will be much more difficult to convince residents to vote "yes."

Los Banos is a bedroom community of San Jose, catering to commuters who drive over an hour each way to their jobs. As home prices climb in the Bay Area's Silicon Valley, communities like Los Banos become more attractive to young families. Home construction is booming to meet the demand: 1,700 lots are already approved for building and another 3,000 are likely to be approved in 2004. But the schools can't accommodate the growing student population.

Built to hold 1,000 students, Los Banos High School houses twice that number. Some core classes have as many as 40 students. The passing period between classes had to be extended to six minutes because crowded hallways made students tardy. In one entryway, an extra door was added to the two already there to help alleviate the bottleneck.

"With so many students in each class, it's easy for some to slip through the cracks," says Kathy Sinclear, a math teacher at the high school and member of the Los Banos Teachers Association. With 40 students in one of her algebra classes, "it's tough to spend individual time with them. It's too bad, because our district is historically behind grade level. I find it very frustrating as a teacher."

Elementary schools in Los Banos are on year-round, multi-track schedules, with the middle school and high school expected to follow suit before long. Henry Miller Elementary School was built for 500 students but has 900 enrolled. Four lunch periods are held each day, beginning at 11:30 a.m. The addition of 20 portables has eaten up a third of the blacktop area that was intended to be a playground.

"Parents who move here and come to register their children for the neighborhood school are often surprised," says LBTA member Anthony Parreira, a band teacher at Los Banos Junior High and one of California's representatives on the NEA Board of Directors.

"Parents may be told, 'We have room for your fourth-grader, but your second-grader will have to go to a different school.' Parents find out that their children will not only be at different schools, they will be on different tracks, attending school at different times. The parents become irate and march to the district office, where they are told the same thing."

The problem is that the real estate agents sell them their houses with the promise that they'll be able to enroll their children at the neighborhood school. It's a major selling point, but one that the school district is not a party to.

In Elk Grove, another high-growth district, schools are also facing a crowding crisis. "Our growth is just astronomical at this point," says Maggie Ellis, president of the Elk Grove Education Association. "Students are moving here in such high numbers that we will have to build four to five schools a year for the next 10 years."

Elementary schools have more than 1,000 students and one high school has 3,250 students. "When you have 40 to 45 high school students in one class, tensions start rising and you get more fights on campus," says Ellis. "We definitely need bond money to build more schools."

Existing schools also need help. Many are more than 50 years old.

In Fresno, the situation is desperate. The district hopes to use local bond money to qualify for Prop. 55 matching funds to alleviate overcrowding and modernize deteriorating facilities.

At least 24 elementary schools are bursting at the seams, and approximately 600 middle school students are bused outside their attendance areas because there's no room for them.

Money is also needed at existing schools to upgrade lighting and electrical systems, replace leaky roofs, remove asbestos, fix heating and air conditioning systems, and address mold and mildew issues, which have caused illnesses among teachers and students.

"Kids deserve to attend decent schools," says Fresno Teachers Association President Sherry Wood. "Children are the most important resource we have. We need to improve the conditions for teaching and learning by voting in favor of Prop. 55 on the March ballot."

Sherry Posnick-Goodwin