Bond measures that are meant to fix and replace dilapidated public school buildings saw mixed success at the ballot box in San Diego County last week — and the stakes are especially high this year, as voters approved a state measure that could give more funding to districts that pass their own bonds. The latest results show a clear divide: Almost all the rural, small and East County school districts that tried for a bond are seeing their measures on track to fail in early vote results, while larger and urban and suburban districts with more property wealth in their boundaries are seeing well above the 55 percent support their bonds need to pass. The bond measures are crucial for school districts, superintendents say, because bond measures are the primary way they can raise money for fixing or replacing outdated school facilities. And many superintendents were hoping to pass a bond this time in order to qualify for matching funds from Proposition 2, a $10 billion statewide school bond measure that voters approved last week. “That’s why this one really hurts, because it would’ve benefited from the state money,” Cajon Valley Superintendent David Miyashiro said of his district’s failing bond. In San Diego County, the largest school bond measure to succeed is a $3.5 billion bond for San Diego Community College District, which appears set to become the system’s first bond to pass in 18 years. The measure will fix and replace old and deteriorating buildings, build dedicated facilities for training students in high-demand careers and make room for classes that have long waitlists. San Diego Mesa College plans to replace all buildings built in the 1960s with modern and ADA-compliant facilities, including the gym. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)The pool facility is one of the many buildings at San Diego Mesa College to be rebuilt. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)A structural failure along the back wall near the pool locker rooms at the San Diego Mesa College on Nov. 8 in San Diego, CA. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)The San Diego Mesa College aquatic center’s bleachers show multiple sealed and unsealed cracks on Nov. 8 in San Diego, CA. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)The team locker room at San Diego Mesa College’s athletics building on Nov 8, in San Diego, CA. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)San Diego Community College District Architect Lance Lareau observes a crumbling ceiling in one of the San Diego Mesa College classrooms on Nov. 8 in San Diego, CA. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)An electrical panel from the 1960s remains in the Apolliad Theater painting room at the San Diego Mesa College on Nov. 8 in San Diego, CA. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)Exposed wiring is shown at the San Diego Mesa College on Nov. 8 in San Diego, CA. District Architect Lance Lareau and Director of Communications and Public Relations Jack Beresford observe needed improvements in the classroom. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)More rooms are used for storage, and props are elevated from the ground to prevent water damage during rainy days at the San Diego Mesa College on Nov. 8 in San Diego, CA.(Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)Chair of Dramatic Arts George Ye (left) and San Diego Community College District Architect Lance Lareau discuss the program’s needs for upgraded facilities at the San Diego Mesa College on Nov. 8 in San Diego, CA. The college plans to replace all buildings built in the 1960s with modern and ADA-compliant facilities. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)The theater’s costume storage is packed into a small room with five rows of clothing racks and the walls stack top to bottom with shoes, boxes and other accessories. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)Show Caption1 of 11San Diego Mesa College plans to replace all buildings built in the 1960s with modern and ADA-compliant facilities, including the gym. (Brittany Cruz-Fejeran / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)Expand “For more than 100 years, the colleges in the San Diego Community College District have provided the foundation for building better futures in the San Diego region,” said district Chancellor Gregory Smith in a statement. “The district sincerely appreciates voters for supporting Measure HH, which will enable us to keep that foundation strong and vibrant.” All the bonds in South County are succeeding so far, including two bonds for South Bay Union and three for San Ysidro. Lemon Grove’s two bonds are both passing. Warner Unified is the only small and rural district in the county whose bond measure is succeeding in early results. It will use the $3.8 million bond to build a new clean water system; the single-school district has had arsenic-tainted water for years. None of the other small and rural districts are getting enough votes to pass, including Alpine, Bonsall, Valley Center-Pauma, Dehesa, Fallbrook Union High and Ramona. Bond measures for East County districts Cajon Valley and Santee were also falling short of the 55% needed. Statewide, California voters approved Proposition 2, which will pay for repairs and upgrades at K-12 schools and community colleges. It will be the first state infusion to school facilities bond funding since 2016. However, school leaders say the state’s school bond funding is limited and may get used up quickly. Before the election, there was already a waiting list totaling more than $3.4 billion in school funding requests. Superintendents of several districts whose bonds are failing said they’re not surprised. Voters are already facing high costs of living, and more voters in rural East County lean conservative than in the county overall. “The national tide is clear across the country, that bread-and-butter issues of cost-of-living and inflation are important issues that everybody has to consider,” said Alpine Union Superintendent Rich Newman. “Adding additional dollars, even if they think it’s the right thing, is a decision that everybody has to make.” There’s also a systemic inequity for rural and small districts: It’s inherently more expensive for them to raise bond dollars, because they have much less property wealth within their boundaries to generate tax revenue. So school districts in those areas have to raise taxes more sharply in order to raise the same amount of bond revenue that higher-wealth districts can raise with lower tax rates. For example Alpine Union had hoped to raise $6.3 million in bond money via a $30 tax increase per $100,000 assessed valuation. With that same tax rate increase, San Ysidro School District is able to raise more than $68 million for its bond. Some school districts said they faced unique challenges in earning voter support. In Alpine, voters are still sour toward school bonds in general after Grossmont Union High years ago promised them an Alpine high school through their bond that the district never built. And in Cajon Valley, one of the school board’s members, Anthony Carnevale, was urging voters on social media not to approve the district’s bond. Alpine Union hasn’t had a bond measure pass since 2011. It has a $12 million deferred maintenance backlog, Newman said. “We have a large deferred maintenance, and the bond was going to provide us an opportunity to repair things. We won’t be able to repair and replace all those aspects within our district now,” Newman said. Newman said the district has already been working on securing millions of dollars in grants to free up money to pay for facilities. Valley Center-Pauma Unified hasn’t had a bond in 32 years. Without one, Superintendent Ron McCowan said his district will start construction on its most urgently needed projects with the little funding it does have available — namely about $10 million in fees developers pay school districts when building within their boundaries. Valley Center-Pauma Unified’s primary school needs new classrooms designed specifically for transitional kindergarten, which are required by the state. It also needs new elementary classrooms to replace the campus’ 14 portables that are more than 30 years old, McCowan said. That $10 million or so will build only a part of the new building the school needs. McCowan is going to start anyway. He plans to apply for state matching funds, but he doesn’t know if or when his application will succeed, considering there’s already a long waiting list of billions of dollars worth of school projects. “We just keep moving forward,” McCowan said.