Democrats in the Legislature are poised to help make it easier for school districts to pass parcel taxes, but a court ruling this month – if it withstands an appeal – will narrow the scope of what parcel taxes can tax.
The First District Court of Appeals overturned Alameda Unified’s parcel tax, passed in 2008 and lasting three years, that set different tax rates for owners of residential and commercial property. In Borikas vs Alameda Unified, the court said that it violated a state law that requires parcel taxes be uniform. The potential ramifications of the decision are significant as districts look to local property owners for one of the few sources of money outside of state revenue.
Over the past decade about a dozen school districts, mainly in the Bay Area, have adopted parcel taxes similar to Alameda Unified’s in an effort to ease the burden on the average homeowner while raising additional taxes from businesses and other types of properties. Just last month five districts in Los Angeles County, including Centinela Valley Union High School District, joined together to pass a parcel tax that charged 2 cents per square foot for residential properties and 7.5 cents per square foot for other classes of property. San Leandro Unified passed a measure taxing single-family,
Silicon Valley Community Foundation CEO Emmett Carson is saying little at this point about the $500 million gift in Facebook stock that company CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave the foundation this week for spending on education and health. Zuckerberg, 28, made his announcement, with little specifics, that he would donate 18 million shares – where else? – but on his Facebook page on Tuesday. By Thursday morning, it had 200,000 “likes.”
Mark Zuckerberg ~ Photo by Guillaume Paumier
Community foundations are charities that manage the investments of their donors and match their philanthropic interests to good causes. Those don’t have to be confined geographically; plenty of donors give to non-profits nationally and abroad or to their college or church. But Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s focus on San Mateo and Santa Clara counties is giving superintendents and charter school leaders from cities south of San Francisco to San Jose early dreams of sugar plums. In addition, Zuckerberg, and his wife, Priscilla, live in Palo Alto.