ELECTION WATCH: Residents Opt to Pay for School Improvements

Update, 1am  Measure J has passed with 77 percent of the vote.

Update, 11pm  With 27 of 37 precincts reporting, over 76 percent of South City voters support Measure J.

Update, 10:14pm  School trustee Philip Weise is celebrating; he says he's been told it's impossible for Measure J to drop under 55 percent support with the numbers it's showing.

"I just want to thank the community and all the people who worked so hard to get this to happen: teachers, parents, businesses, workers," he said.  "I will personally commit to making an effort that the bulk of that money is spent in the community, both in local hiring and local purchasing."

"What a week.  First the Giants, then Measure J."

Update, 10:09pm  Measure J still has over 76 percent support with seven of 37 precincts reporting.

Update, 10pm  School board trustee Philip Weise sends an email to school board members and district employees: "We won!"

Update, 9:39pm  Assemblymember Jerry Hill says the early lead on Measure J says something about San Mateo County voters.  "San Mateo County has historically been very supportive of education.  That's just who we are."

Update, 8:28pm  The early mail-in ballot returns indicate support for Measure J, with 76.68% voting yes and 23.32% voting no, out of just over 7,000 votes.

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Nancy Schenone is the first to admit she votes conservatively. She dropped off her absentee ballot this morning at after researching and reading through each proposition closely, particularly .

Schenone said she supports the $162 million bond, which will replace  portable classrooms with modern academic buildings and fund other technological and physical upgrades.

"I supported it because I felt like what they were asking for appeared to be beneficial to the students," she said outside the school. "I don't mind paying for that."

A handful of voters interviewed at the Sunshine Gardens precinct today agreed that the education bond is worth the money.

Although South San Francisco voter George Jackson said he doesn't have kids in school, Jackson cast a yes vote for J on principle.

"I'm for education; I'm for school improvement," Jackson said.

Justine Kamariotis, a college student who grew up in South City, said she supported Measure J because the state's education system and government at large is in really bad shape.

"We need more bonds for schools because, honestly, California really sucks," Kamariotis said.

Holding his two-year-old son Isiah, voter Joe O'Donnell said Sunshine Gardens is virtually in the same condition when he attended here. "Same school, different paint," O'Donnell remarked.

O'Donnell said SSFUSD schools definitely need a makeover. "You don't want to learn in a hole in the wall," he said.

Jan Speller, president of South San Francisco Classroom Teachers Association, said the Measure J campaign has received strong support, despite tough economic times.

"Most of the voters that we reached through our have told us that that's a sacrifice they are willing to make in order to support our local schools."

The bond money will help replace the district's aging infrastructure, including 100 portable classrooms spread across 17 schools. Some of the facilities are more than 50 years old and some of the sewer lines are 80 years old.

Funds will also go toward technology upgrades and .

The bond needs 55 percent of the vote to pass. No arguments were submitted against the measure, which appears to be heading for approval.

Superintendent Howard Cohen wouldn't hazard a guess on the measure's outcome. "In phone banking approximately 60 percent of our respondents…said they would approve it. About 10 percent said no and about 30 percent said they weren't sure."

If the measure passes, Cohen said his first act of business (on his personal time) would be thanking "everyone who has supported Measure J and find a way to get that message out to the community at large and people in the district who have contributed."

 "I will also get the board members together and start to think about what this means now that the bond is a reality," Cohen said.

Additional reporting by Max Huber.