Two school parcel taxes could add up Two school parcel taxes could add up (June 11, 2004)

District, county look at placing measures on November ballot

by Alexandria Rocha

The local school district will likely forge ahead with its own parcel tax, despite a similar countywide initiative to generate funds on the November ballot.

The Palo Alto Unified School District's Board of Education will vote June 22 to float a November measure asking voters to increase the amount and longevity of a parcel tax originally passed in 2001. If approved, the current $293 per parcel per year tax would increase to $521.

At the same time, the Santa Clara Office of Education is pursuing an initiative that would cost voters countywide $195 per parcel per year to fund all 32 school districts. The county's effort, however, is facing multiple obstacles, including approval by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by an August deadline.

"I don't think it's very likely that we're going to see anything at the county level," said school board President Cathy Kroymann.

If both proposals make it to the Nov. 2 ballot, voters will pay $716 per parcel per year. Both measures need a two-thirds "yes" vote to pass.

At a meeting earlier this week, school board members voiced concerns about doubling up with the county on this fall's ballot.

"I do have a little bit of concern about the local tax maybe disadvantaging the poorer districts that are having a harder time," said board member Mandy Lowell.

The board, however, still indicated support for putting a local proposal on the ballot and was confident in gaining the community's support.

The local proposal would bring in $4.3 million per year, in addition to the annual $5.5 million already earned by the current parcel tax. District officials said the extra revenue would not fund any new programs or services, but would instead help replenish staff and programs cut due to the state budget crisis.

The county's parcel tax would yield $77.4 million countywide, with $3.4 million funneling into Palo Alto per year. Patti Murphy, a spokeswoman for the county Office of Education, said the proposal would be used countywide to improve reading literacy and to increase the number of fully credentialed teachers.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is currently holding off on deciding whether it will put the county's measure on the November ballot, regardless of whether the Legislature and governor approve the proposal.

Supervisor Liz Kniss said the board will discuss the issue further at its next meeting June 22, but an official decision will not be made until August.

Kniss has reservations about the county education measure, citing concerns that supervisors usually do not deal with education issues and that the funds would be decentralized.

"If it's collected by the county it's overseen by the county," she said. "If it's local, it would be collected by the school district and distributed by the school district. I'm always in favor of money being collected locally and used locally."

Dennis Cima, director of education for the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group -- which developed the countywide initiative -- said officials in the county are confident that Palo Alto's voters would approve both proposals.

"We knew going into this process over a year ago that there would never be a time with a clean ballot," Cima said. "We think its important that districts need to do as they so need. We feel that in this county, voters will support both."

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