PTA pushing for lower parcel tax threshold
Poway Unified PTA members are joining state school groups to change the number of votes needed to pass a parcel tax — from the current two-thirds to a 55 percent majority.
If they gather one million signatures by early April, that initiative (which is not a vote for a parcel tax) would appear on the November ballot, said Lorene Joosten.
Joosten serves as the local Palomar Council legislative representative. That council is comprised of 36 units representing all the Poway Unified schools, except Abraxas, a continuation school.
The California PTA has endorsed the Californians for Improved School Funding measure, otherwise known as Local Control of Local Classrooms Funding Act.
“We aren’t trying to pass a parcel tax at this point,” Joosten said.
People are confused about what a parcel tax is, one of the reasons that PTA members locally and statewide began a grass roots effort to explain the tax and how it could help districts during tough economic times, she added.
A parcel tax is a flat fee assessed per parcel, unlike school facility bond measures, which are assessed based on property value.
Funds from school bond measures must be used for construction and renovation, while parcel taxes can be spent on teachers salaries, materials, equipment and supporting specific programs.
One thing Poway Unified district officials know is that this year is not the right time to ask residents to support a parcel tax, said Poway Unified’s Deputy Superintendent John Collins.
“People are hurting (financially),” he added. “It wouldn’t be appropriate (right now).”
Collins said that if a parcel tax gets voter approval at some point in the future, the district could receive $16 million for educational needs.
With a $24 million budget deficit for the upcoming school year, plus a projected double digit deficit for the following year, a parcel tax could be a viable solution to shore up the gap, he said.
It would be up to Poway Unified’s board of education to set the tax amount, anywhere between $1 to $250 maximum.
Anything over $250 would still require a two-thirds vote even if the initiative qualifies and passes in November, Joosten said.
No paid signature gatherers are helping with the recent petition drive, just volunteers, said Kimberly Beatty.
Beatty, a Sabre Springs resident, is the state PTA’s San Diego County organizer for the initiative petition.
Locally, she also serves as PTA legislation chair at Creekside Elementary School and serves as a PTSA legislation chair at Black Mountain Middle School.
Beatty said local parents are becoming more concerned about the $24 million budget deficit the district is facing for 2010-11.
“These are people who are devastated by the budget (deficit),” she added.
Beatty said that if the current initiative gets on the ballot and is passed, certain requirements would be mandatory, such as: advance disclosure on how the funds would be spent; annual audits; oversight by an independent committee would be required; and an exemption would be offered to seniors.
The initiative would limit the tax to $250 per parcel, once a year and provide local funding to school districts, which could not be taken, or offset by the state during educational funding decisions.
She and other PTA members have been setting up tables at concerts, athletic events and other activities, where residents can sign petitions favoring the initiative.
The initiative would limit the tax to $250 per parcel, once a year and provide local funding to school districts, which could not be taken, or offset by the state during educational funding decisions.
In other cities where a parcel tax has passed, districts such as San Marino have approved a tax of $750, and Marin County passed a $1,000 parcel tax, which means those taxes were approved with a two-thirds vote, Beatty said.
In the past two years, communities have passed 53 of 74 parcel tax measures, achieving a 72 percent passage rate, according to EdSource Report from September 2009.
For more information about this initiative and details about approving a parcel tax, go to www.improvedschoolfunding.com.
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