Most of 13 parcel taxes passed
55 percent threshold would have made the difference
If the threshold for passing a parcel tax were 55 percent, as Sen. Joe Simitian and fellow Democrats in the Legislature favor, a baker’s dozen parcel taxes would have passed on Tuesday. Instead, four fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage, including two that came within 1 percentage point of winning.
Simitian’s SCA 5 would let voters decide whether to lower the threshold for a parcel tax to the same level as required to pass a school construction bond. The proposed constitutional amendment has been in limbo for years, for lack of a handful of Republican legislators willing to agree to place the measure on a state ballot.
But districts aren’t waiting for the Legislature to act.
All but one of the 13 school districts that did the mail ballot Tuesday are
