California voters in the March 3 primary appear to have rejected the statewide school bond measure along with a majority of local school bond measures. Prop. 13 is headed for defeat, with only 46 percent of voters supporting it. The Secretary of State’s office is reporting 1.5 million ballots left to be counted as of March 3. The measure would have authorized $15 billion in state general obligation bonds for construction and modernization of public education facilities. The cost to repay the bonds was estimated at about $740 million per year (including interest) over the next 35 years. “Proposition 13 is likely short, according to early election returns amid confusion over the measure’s conjuring of the controversial 1978 property tax measure and the proposed cut to local developer fees to help pay for new buildings,” said ACSA Executive Director Wes Smith. “Learning environments are a critical component to achieving equity in our schools. We now look to future elections as the remaining Proposition 51 (2016) school bonds dwindle.” In addition to the statewide measure, there were 121 local measures on ballots up and down the state, according to ballotpedia.org. Of those, 32 were approved and 89 were defeated, either by “no” votes or failure to meet the required 55 percent supermajority to pass. Eighty-four percent of local school bond proposals were approved in California from 2008 through 2019, according to ballotpedia.org.