Voters kill Springville school bond measure

Nearly two-thirds of voters rejected a multimillion-dollar school bond Tuesday, which would have taxed property owners toward an expansion of Springville school facilities.

The bond, known as Measure O, was floated for the second time after being previously rejected in May 2009. The first time the measure was put on the ballot it was denied by 57 percent of voters.

This time, the measure garnered 65 percent opposition.

Though many California school districts require only 55 percent of voters to approve local school bond measures, as amended by Proposition 39 in 2000, Springville has maintained the previous threshold of two-thirds.

Proponents of the measure, which would would have brought $6.7 million in taxes to the single-school Springville district, said the funds were necessary to maintain the Springville school’s high level of academic success.

“The voters of Springville have clearly spoken, so we’ll honor their wishes and figure out what to do from here,” school board trustee Paul Tuttle said.

He said the results were “disappointing,” but also a “sign of the times.”

“People are fed up with Sacramento and being taxed and just saw this as another tax,” Tuttle said.

Springville’s sole polling location, the Veteran’s Memorial Building, saw steady traffic throughout the day, recording almost a third of the final total of votes by 3 p.m.

Resident John Konop said he voted nay because he disagreed with a tax increase.

“I don’t think they really need the facilities,” he said, calling recent years’ enrollment at the school “stagnant.”

John Russell also decided against the measure.

“There are too many unanswered questions,” he said.

Dave Huckleberry, on the other hand, voted an emphatic yes on the proposition.

His wife, a Springville teacher, would have been the beneficiary of a new classroom had the measure passed.

Janelle Stark, another proponent, said she voted for the bond because Springville facilities “need some upgrades.”

Stark said her children and grandchildren attended the school and “it’s past time” the campus was renovated.

Vocal opponent of Measure O Rick McIntire said the vote demonstrated that the previous election’s results were not a fluke.

He said proponents cited two reasons for Measure O’s May loss: a lack of knowledge about the bond, and a plethora of unpopular state issues populating the same ballot.

“This time, it’s all by itself — the only issue on the ballot — and they ran a very aggressive campaign to educate the voters, and they lost by even more,” McIntire said.

Measure O was the only school bond on a California ballot rejected. The two others in the November election, run in Mill Valley School and Shoreline School districts, both passed by more than two-thirds of voters in Marin County.

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.