Schools

School Board May Seek A Parcel Tax

Meeting Tuesday night could be the first step toward asking voters to approve a property tax levy to pay for teachers and other operating costs

Would two-thirds of San Leandro voters support a property tax increase to offset state budget cuts affecting the city's public schools?

That's what trustees of the San Leandro Unified School District will discuss when they meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at City Hall.

At this point school board members have not decided whether to seek a tax hike in 2012, much less how much of an increase to propose.

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But what is on the board's agenda are some grim facts about current funding and a recommendation the district spend about $23,000 to survey voters about a parcel tax hike.

Voters have supported bond measures

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Twice in recent years San Leandro voters have backed bond measures that raised property taxes to finance school construction, repairs and other infrastructure such as new athletic facilities.

Bond measures require a 55 percent margin to pass. Both recent bonds exceeded that margin.

Measure B got 68.7 percent of the votes cast in November 2006. It raised $109 million, which cost taxpayers $39 per $100,000 in assessed valuation, according to an analysis by SmartVoter.org.

Measure M got 63.1 percent of the vote in November 2010. It raised $50.1 million which translated into $25 per $100,000 of assessed valuation, according to SmartVoter.org.

Parcel taxes differ from bonds in two regards

Parcel taxes have a different purpose. They fund school operating expenses, 90 percent of which are pay and benefits for teachers, administrators and support staff.

And parcel taxes must pass by a two-thirds margin.

School district officials say San Leandro has never passed a school parcel tax.

School board trustee Mike Katz-Lacabe said when the district last put a parcel tax on the April 2006 ballot it got a little less than 62 percent of the votes cast.

District paints a grim picture

During a briefing Monday afternoon, Superintendent Cindy Cathey and Assistant Superintendent Song Chin-Bendib laid out some numbers.

The district has 12 schools and about 8,800 students. Year-to-year enrollment has been pretty constant.

In the 2007/08 school year, San Leandro got $73 million from all sources.

In the current school year the district is supposed to get $69 million, they said.

But if state revenues fall below a certain level in the next few weeks, that will trigger automatic reductions in state funding and cause the district to lose another $2.2 million for the rest of this academic year.

How the cuts have been felt

To cope with the cutbacks, the district increased class sizes at the K-3 level, district officials said.

In the 2008/09 school year the student-teacher ratio in K-3 was 20-to-1.

In the current year, K-3 teachers have 28 students.

Next year they will have 32 students per class.

Fourth and fifth grade classes are already at the 32-1 ratio, and in grades six through 12, the average can go up to 35 students per teacher.

More to come

A staff report that will be presented to the school board Tuesday night says more cuts are coming.

"Middle school counselors are scheduled to be eliminated for the 2012-2013 school year," the report says. "Elementary librarians, elementary instrumental music, custodians, campus security, middle school and elementary vice principals, and clerical support for the schools are all scheduled to be cut."

Should the board decide to seek a parcel tax increase, the election would cost somewhere between $140,000 and $200,000, depending on the method, the report estimates.


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