North-south divide on parcel taxes
This is proving to be a tough year to pass a parcel tax – unless you live in the Bay Area, where voters in even low-income districts are coming to accept a parcel tax as a necessary price in a low-funded state.
This week, voters in Los Angeles Unified and two other districts rejected parcel taxes by substantial margins, while in Silicon Valley, one community college district and four elementary and unified districts approved parcel taxes ranging from $34 to $160, according to School Services of California, which tracked the results. In addition, San Francisco Unified passed a $32 parcel tax for school building maintenance and earthquake safety measures, and Oak Grove, a small San Jose district, for the fifth time extended a $68 parcel tax permitted under the Gann Limit, a vestige of the Prop 13 era.
A parcel tax requires a two-thirds majority of voters for passage. There was hope this year that voters might get a chance to lower the threshold to 55 percent, the same as needed to pass school construction bonds. But the organizers of a possible initiative, Californians for Improved School Funding, failed to collect the 659,000 signatures by the late May deadline to put the proposition on this
This week, voters in Los Angeles Unified and two other districts rejected parcel taxes by substantial margins, while in Silicon Valley, one community college district and four elementary and unified districts approved parcel taxes ranging from $34 to $160, according to School Services of California, which tracked the results. In addition, San Francisco Unified passed a $32 parcel tax for school building maintenance and earthquake safety measures, and Oak Grove, a small San Jose district, for the fifth time extended a $68 parcel tax permitted under the Gann Limit, a vestige of the Prop 13 era.
A parcel tax requires a two-thirds majority of voters for passage. There was hope this year that voters might get a chance to lower the threshold to 55 percent, the same as needed to pass school construction bonds. But the organizers of a possible initiative, Californians for Improved School Funding, failed to collect the 659,000 signatures by the late May deadline to put the proposition on this
