WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – A lot of special interests would have made a lot of money if Measure H, a $270 million ballot proposal, had been approved by West Contra Costa school district voters.

But educational services for students would not have improved one bit, which is probably why voters said “enough is enough.”

Officials in the West Contra Costa school district will be forced to put over a quarter billion dollars in construction projects on hold after voters rejected the district’s massive construction bond proposal.

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Several local groups worked to defeat a $270 million measure, which would have paid for construction work at several elementary schools, due to concerns that escalating taxes that would financially cripple some homeowners.

The proposal was the seventh in the district since 1998, but the first to face organized opposition. Contra Costa taxpayers had approved “six earlier measures that showered the district with $1.6 billion to renovate campuses and build gleaming new schools,” the Contra Costa Times reports.

Forty-five percent of local voters supported the proposal, while 55 percent opposed it, serving a stinging defeat to construction contractors, labor unions, financial advisers and others who chipped in $437,200 to campaign for the proposal, according to the news site.

“I think this is going to be a very important step in getting the district to refocus on education and academic leadership,” parent Ben Steinberg, leader of the opposition group Parents for a Better Education, told the news site.

A Native American grassroots group called The Committee of Families for the Safety of Our Children also opposed the bond proposal “because it worried the high taxes would force families into foreclosure.” A third group, Contra Costa Families for Better Schools, also campaigned against the measure with the help of $100,000 from the California Charter Schools Association.

“Steve Levin, director of communications for the California Charter Schools Association, said in an email that the organization entered the fray because the district refused to share its parcel tax proceeds with local charters or to discuss sharing Measure H (the defeated bond) with them if it passed,” the Contra Costa Times reports.

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“Measure H is only the most recent among numerous examples of the district’s unwillingness to treat charter public schools fairly and equitably,” Levin told the news site.

Local councilman and Measure H supporter Tom Butt, who happens to own an architecture firm that works on school construction projects, told the Times he doesn’t understand why voters turned down the proposal. His firm contributed $10,000 to the Yes on H campaign, which garnered a total of $437,200 “from contractors, labor unions, financial advisers and others who could benefit from district construction projects,” according to the news site.

“I don’t know why they voted Measure H down,” he said. “For me personally, there is nothing more important than public schools, but I guess some people feel differently.”

Butt’s comments are typical of public officials who are convinced that support for taxes equates to support for schools. He’s obviously convinced of the union fallacy that improving education requires fancy new schools and massive public spending.

The message from voters was clear, whether or not local officials can comprehend it: Refocus on what really matters to improve student learning.