A heartbreaker in Alameda
The subject line on an email from Alameda USD trustee Mike McMahon says it all -- "Crushing Defeat." Though there are a few votes left to be counted, it looks like Alameda's Measure E, a parcel tax to fund its highly-regarded public schools, is going down in defeat.
The irony? More than 65 percent of Alameda's voters voted to approve the tax -- juuuust shy of the 66 and 2/3 plus one required to pass. Only in California!
I can only begin to imagine the frustration and fear for the future that Alameda's parents, teachers and school administrators are experiencing right now. The measure would have added $659 annually to the property taxes for each residential parcel and 15 cents per square foot for commercial parcels, and would admittedly have been one of the highest school taxes in the Bay Area. Still, it was replacing two existing parcel taxes that are expiring in 2012, so there was a precedent for local funding of Alameda schools.
To add insult to injury, Alameda's school board last night passed a 2010-11 budget that eliminates gifted education programs, middle and high school counselors, and other programs -- in all, $7 million in cuts to Alameda USD's $80 million annual budget. Over three years, the district is expecting to cut $17 million, or more than 20 percent of its total budget.
Here in San Francisco, we passed a $198 per parcel tax back in 2008, and successfully renewed a $6 million facilities parcel tax earlier this month. Despite this funding, and additional funding from the City of San Francisco's Rainy Day Fund and Public Education Enrichment Fund, the district has faced its own budget travails - a $113 million deficit through 2011-12. Last night, we adopted a
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