School Officials Fear Loss of State Funds

Simi Valley school officials say they could lose as much as $56 million in state matching funds if a buyer cannot be found for 36 acres the school district owns at Tapo Canyon Road and Alamo Street.

Simi Valley Unified School District officials hope DR Horton Custom Homes is still interested in buying the property for about $14 million, after Santa Monica-based New Urban West pulled out of its agreement to purchase the property in a dispute over an 8-inch sewer line that runs beneath it.

Without the money, the school district does not have the matching funds needed to receive its share of school construction bond money approved by voters in Proposition 1A, said Lowell Schultze, assistant superintendent of business services.

“It means we won’t get funds from the state,” Schultze said.

The land is zoned residential with a senior housing element, but the city has long been interested in developing much of the land commercially. New Urban West is a residential developer.

State officials say the district still has a good chance of getting a share of $9.2 billion in state bond money approved by voters last year, so long as its construction plans are approved by the state and submitted within a year, said Bruce Hancock, assistant executive officer of the State Allocation Board.

“Any district that comes in with modernization projects, probably within the next year, I think has a reasonable expectation of being funded,” Hancock said. “The biggest unknown is simply how many applications will come in.”

The remaining $1.3 billion in modernization funds will be allocated beginning in July. The district must match the state money with 20% in local funds. The Simi Valley school district had hoped to use the nearly $14 million in proceeds from the sale of the property for its share.