Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Bond measure really did pass despite some election reports

By John Pancharian

Although there was cause for celebration in Los Gatos and Saratoga following last week's resounding passage of Measure B, the $79 million school bond measure for Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, a mistake in the list of vote totals in the San Jose Mercury News caused a mild panic in the West Valley.

The $79 million bond issue to repair and upgrade facilities at Los Gatos and Saratoga high schools received 10,958 yes votes, representing 80.6 percent of the electorate, and 2,644 no votes, or 19.4 percent of the vote in Santa Clara County. In Santa Cruz County, where some mountain residents send students to Los Gatos schools, the measure received 912 yes votes and 282 no votes.

But it appears the daily newspaper did not include the Santa Clara County approval votes in their totals, which ran in the paper June 3 and 4--although it did run an article June 3 correctly reporting Measure B's passage.

The measure needed a two-thirds super-majority to pass.

"I'm relieved and grateful," Cindy Ranii, superintendent of the school district, said. "I'm grateful to the volunteers who made this happen."

Ranii also said she had received calls from concerned locals who had read the erroneous numbers, and she wanted to assure them that the measure did pass.

Students and staff at both high schools can look forward to improvements in aged heating, plumbing and electrical systems, as well as new roofing and numerous other upgrades. Officials at both schools said they plan to expand science facilities, updating labs and classrooms for the information age and expanding classroom capacity, which has lagged behind increasing science enrollment.

The bond will cost residents about $35 per $100,000 assessed value of their homes over its 25-year life and will be issued incrementally between 1999 and 2009.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]