LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT : Bond Measure OKd for Ballot

The financially strapped Los Angeles Community College District has decided to ask voters to approve a $200-million bond issue in an April 9 election.

The measure is part of an effort to improve facilities at all nine district schools, including Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Valley College in Van Nuys and Mission College in San Fernando and Sylmar.

“We’ve arrived at possibly the biggest vote this board will make,” Trustee Lindsay Conner said. “If it passes it will be the biggest injection of funds I have seen in my 10 years on the board.”

The board has also decided to spend $400,000 to get the measure, which will need a two-thirds majority to pass, on the ballot. The bond money can only be used to improve or buy land and buildings.

“This could conceivably complete all of our campuses,” said Hal Garvin, citing the backlog of uncompleted building projects at the district’s campuses.

The district faces an $8-million deficit and has cut several hundred classes districtwide.

If the bond measure passes, the district will impose a property tax on county voters to repay the debt.

Local governments, schools and community college districts are permitted, under the California Constitution, to raise property taxes above the 1% limit imposed by Proposition 13 in order to pay off general obligation bonds.