School districts looking at asking voters for cash - ContraCostaTimes.com

School districts looking at asking voters for cash - ContraCostaTimes.com

As state budget cuts continue to threaten education programs and force layoffs, three school districts in northern Solano County are thinking about asking voters for money. Talk of parcel taxes and general obligation bonds is picking up in California school districts as educators try to deal with massive state cuts to education. At their regularly scheduled board meeting Thursday night, trustees in the Dixon Unified School District were to receive results of a local voter survey about a tax to support education. Superintendent Roger Halberg said trustees tabled the report until their next meeting, April 1, to allow more time to get responses. The Dixon board is contemplating whether to go with a parcel tax or general obligation bond to help sustain educational programs and jobs. Halberg said Dixon voters passed a 30-year general obligation bond in 2002 to help build the new high school and pay for other construction projects in the district. One option for Dixon Unified would be to put another bond on the ballot that would essentially extend the length of the previous bond. A new bond would free up money from the general fund that is now going toward payments on the certificates of participation for previous construction projects. Those payments are roughly $750,000 a year. During a board workshop Thursday, trustees in the Vacaville Unified School District also learned about parcel tax