Parcel tax gets overwhelming support from local voters
By Rebecca Ray
Property owners in the Los Gatos Union School District (LGUSD) will continue to pay the elementary school district's parcel tax for six more years.
Voters renewed the tax for the fourth time in a row on April 9, despite a $40 increase to $290 per parcel. Since 1990, the parcel tax, Measure B, has funded low class sizes in grades four through eight, certain academic programs, student support services and maintenance, which the state doesn't fund and doesn't require.
The parcel tax is different from the $91 million Measure B that voters passed in June 2001. The other Measure B, which is a general obligation bond, is funding construction and renovation projects at all five district schools.
Not surprisingly, Superintendent Mary Ann Park and Linda Latasa, assistant superintendent of business services, said they were ecstatic that the parcel tax passed. "We can continue our programs and have the money to do the things we do that make our school district a really good place," Park said.
Almost 3,200 (75.4 percent) of the voters in 20 precincts voted for the parcel tax, while 1,040 (24.7 percent) voted against it. Passage required a two-thirds vote.
The district called for an increase from $250 per parcel, which voters passed in 1998, because the amount will no longer be sufficient to pay for the programs and services it funds, Park said.
As it has with the parcel tax money in the past, the district plans to retain the average class size in grades four through eight at 26 students, instead of more than 30 students. The state only funds reduced class sizes in grades K-3.
Besides 16 classroom teachers, the parcel tax will also fund, in part or in whole, 34 other employment positions, including the district science resource teacher, school nurses, health clerks, psychologists, secretaries, library personnel, custodians (three full time, one parttime) and one maintenance worker, as well as counselors in all five schools.
In addition, the district says the parcel tax will pay for music instruction for all students, literary resource teachers for grades K-5 at each elementary school and the Art Docents, a predominantly volunteer group that runs art workshops and provides art resources for teachers and students.
District officials say they expect the district to receive $2.5 million each year.
Some residents expressed concern about the election occurring over spring break for the LGUSD and other local school districts. Out of 17,268 registered voters in the district, only 4,252 (24.6 percent) cast ballots--2,100 (12.2 percent) voted by absentee ballot, while 2,152 (12.5 percent) cast ballots at the polls.
Latasa says she thinks that even if more voters had been around during spring break, the results would have been about the same. When the district polled the residents before LGUSD officials decided in January to reissue the parcel tax, the poll accurately showed that around 75 percent of the voters would vote in favor of the measure.
The only other measure that Santa Clara County residents voted on was Measure A, which called for the Los Altos School District to be able to adjust its existing special tax. The measure, which needed a two-thirds vote, fell short of the mark with just 64.7 percent support.
Residents who are at least 65 years old or whose properties are extensively damaged by a natural disaster can contact the Los Gatos Union School District office and apply for exemptions. Also, residents who own multiple, contiguous properties that are considered one unit can apply at the district office to be levied only once.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
