Parcel tax raises issues of fairness
School funding levy often rejected in poorer districts
SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010 AT 12:01 A.M.
Part and parcel
Between 2001 and 2009, 132 districts in California held parcel tax elections, with 83 passing.
Median winning district
Students: 3,180
Subsidized lunches: 15 percent of students qualified
San Diego Unified School District
Students: 130,000
Subsidized lunches: 60 percent qualify
South Bay Union School District
Students: 8,000
Subsidized lunches: 85 percent qualify
SOURCE: EdSource, school districts
The parcel tax has been held up by school districts in San Diego County and across the state as a last-ditch effort to gain more control over their finances and prevent potentially debilitating budget cuts.
But those tax ballot measures that require a two-thirds majority to pass have raised concerns about growing inequities between the haves and the have-nots in California’s troubled public education system.
This year, proposals to levy parcel taxes were placed on the ballot in 21 California school districts, with 16 passing.
Between 2001 and 2009, 132 of California’s roughly 1,000 school districts floated parcel taxes, with 83 passing, according to EdSource, a nonprofit research organization.
The odds look deceptively good because the majority of successful parcel taxes came from small districts in wealthy areas. The tax revenue has been virtually out of reach for districts with poor students who often struggle academically.
For example, the top-rated Piedmont school district in an affluent Bay Area suburb, where home-owners pay more than $2,000 in school parcel taxes annually, has passed parcel taxes seven times in the past 25 years,