But there are some Willow Glen residents who feel that the $6 million infusion from the parcel tax won't be enough or come in fast enough to save teachers' salaries or even their jobs.

At a public meeting held April 29 at Booksin Elementary School, District Superintendent Linda Murray and Associate Superintendent Jerry Matranga walked an audience of about three dozen community members through a two-hour presentation, hoping to convince them that passing Measure A is of paramount importance.

The ballot measure asks voters to authorize a five-year parcel tax, requiring $98 a year for single-family dwellings or $40 per unit a year for multiple-family dwellings—apartment complexes and duplexes—on one parcel. The multiple-family dwelling parcel tax would cap at $980 annually.

The district's governing board voted unanimously in March to place a measure on the ballot, and the April public meeting was a chance for the district to share its findings from a telephone poll of San Jose voters.

The district says that 89 percent of those polled believe the district is doing a good job; that 56 percent were aware that the district needs the money from the parcel tax; and that 67 percent would vote yes if the tax was on single-family homes at $95 annually for four years.

Senior citizens age 65 and older would be exempt from paying the tax, but one Willow Glen resident in attendance that evening felt the district was making verification of exemption eligibility burdensome.

Tom Myers, husband of governing board member Carol Myers, said that the district is asking seniors to prove their age and property ownership by visiting the district's headquarters on Lenzen Avenue and presenting a copy of a utility bill and a driver's license.

"I know a lot of seniors who'll have a heck of a time getting themselves over to the main office just to show that they're eligible for the exemption," Tom Myers said.

Carol Myers supports the measure as presented but does share concerns about whether the money will go toward teacher salaries and restoring art and music programs without the benefit of an oversight committee.

"This isn't like a bond measure, which by state law requires that there be an oversight committee," Myers said.

Voters approved Proposition 39 in November 2000, which requires a seven-member oversight committee be formed for any bond measure to make sure the money is spent properly.

Holly Vargas, a Willow Glen resident who has two sons attending Booksin Elementary, is mostly concerned that Measure A will enforce a strict ratio of 20 students for every one teacher in kindergarten through third grade. But she does not think a difference of just one or two more students would be that problematic. She also thinks the measure should reach beyond certified, full-time teachers and extend to part-time teachers as well.

"I'm really torn over this," Vargas said. "I mean, I'm ready to just simply hand over my $95 and say, 'Here, take it and spend it at this school only.' "

According to Murray, the parcel tax money will go to local schools only and is guaranteed not to go to the state or toward the salaries of the district's administrative staff.

Measure A is supposed to be used for instructional purposes only. Voters approved Measure C in 1997 and Measure F in March 2002. Both were for bonds, but state law prohibits the bond money from being used for anything but improving facilities.

Matranga said that the parcel tax should last only five years. By then the economy should be on the upswing.

"The measure will have a cut-off date," he assured. "It does have a sunset."

After the presentation, which included charts and graphs showing the details of district funding and expenditures, Murray and Matranga fielded questions about the role of the parcel tax within the district's finances.

The last day to register to vote is May 19. The election is scheduled for June 3.