Committees Gather Funds and Helpers for School Bond Vote

It’s going to take some cash and a lot of campaign volunteers to help convince residents of three county school districts to pay higher property taxes to finance everything from new roofs to new schools.

Supporters pushing school bonds on next month’s ballot know this all too well.

Campaign committees for Ventura Unified School District’s $81-million Measure M, Oxnard elementary school district’s $57-million Measure L and Ocean View School District’s $4-million Measure N are all busy raising money and recruiting volunteers for the June 3 special election.

“All three are doing the best job they can on a very limited budget,” financial consultant Mitch Templeton said. “None of the campaigns have very much money, but all three seem to have a lot of volunteers.”

Templeton’s firm, San Francisco-based Dale Scott & Co., is working with all three districts on their bond elections.

Recently filed campaign finance reports show that committee volunteers have been using individual contributions ranging from $5 to $2,500 to print batches of fliers, distribute reams of brochures and mail piles of letters.

Campaign committees for the Ocean View and Oxnard districts filed finance reports with the county elections office by Thursday’s deadline.

But Ventura Unified’s committee missed the deadline. It also failed to file an initial financial statement April 24. Supporters said the state did not send a campaign committee identification number to them in time.

“This is the first special election, so I just got the dates off,” said committee treasurer Ken Schmitz, who plans to file the report with the county today. County elections officials said it’s likely the committee will be let off with a warning.

The following is a list of how much each committee has raised:

* Supporters of Ocean View’s Measure N reported raising $3,005 for their campaign as of May 17, the cutoff date for the latest finance reports.

If the measure is approved, property owners would pay $21 annually per $100,000 in assessed property value to renovate and modernize Ocean View campuses.

* Ventura’s Yes on Measure M campaign collected an estimated $10,3000, according to Schmitz.

If that measure passes, property owners would pay $27.75 annually per $100,000 in assessed property value to build at least four schools, and modernize and renovate campuses.

* Backers of Oxnard’s Yes on Measure L campaign have raised $10,400.

The measure asks property owners to pay $30 annually per $100,000 in assessed value. The bond money would go toward helping the Oxnard School District build at least two elementary schools, and renovate and modernize campuses.

All three districts have received checks ranging from $1,500 to $2,500 from the Newport Beach-based law firm of Bowie, Arneson, Kadi, Wiles & Giannone--the legal counsel for all three districts in this bond election.

The Oxnard School District is making its second bid for the $57-million bond measure after the initiative failed by a slim margin on the March 4 ballot.

The majority of contributors to Yes on Measure L came from businesses and community organizations, such as the Oxnard Educators Assn., Channel Islands Associates and BFGC Architect Planners Inc. in Bakersfield. Contributions from the three groups ranged from $600 to $2,500.

In Ventura and Ocean View, most donations came from teachers and residents, who gave checks of $5, $10 and $15.

The volume of checks surprised Schmitz.

“When I took on the job, I thought we’d get a few big checks from the vendors who would benefit. That was my assumption,” he said. “Instead, I’m just getting tons of small checks from the community, which is wonderful.”

The committee for Ocean View’s Measure N campaign received mostly small donations of $10, $25 and $100 from teachers, housewives and cooks. The bulk of the money was used to distribute campaign letters.

“I feel pretty good about it,” campaign treasurer Mary Davis said of the committee’s finances. “I don’t anticipate any great deposit, but what we’ve received has kept our head out of water. We’ve held our own. And we’re not doing heavy expenditures.”