District Weighs Fund Options for School

Chances are the Simi Valley school district will never have to adopt a contingency plan to pay for the soon-to-be-built Wood Ranch Elementary School, but officials wanted to be on the safe side.

“I just didn’t want to wait until the last minute,” Dave Kanthak, director of business services, said as he outlined short-term loan possibilities for the school, scheduled to open in September 1998.

Trustees have received a check for half the school’s estimated $6.1-million price. District officials Tuesday discussed possibilities if developer New Urban West doesn’t come up with the remaining money in a timely fashion.

According to Kanthak, those possibilities include shifting funds from the adult education building fund, requesting an advance payment from New Urban West, dipping into the district’s contingency reserve or borrowing short-term from private lenders.

“These are simply contingencies,” board President Norm Walker said. “It’s a prudent thing to look at our options.”

The developer’s second payment--$3 million--will not be triggered until construction begins on more than 600 homes planned for land in southwest Simi Valley. That construction is tentatively slated for late 1997 or early 1998. To finish the school on time, the Simi Valley Unified School District must have all funds by February 1998, according to a memo by Supt. Tate Parker.

The money is New Urban West’s payment for the purchase of 1,850 acres--called the Long Canyon parcel--owned by the school district.

The district became the Long Canyon landlord when a previous developer went bankrupt after building thousands of homes but not a promised school. With proceeds from the sale of the Long Canyon land, trustees have vowed to finally build the school.