PV trustees place $290 parcel tax measure on ballot PV trustees place $290 parcel tax measure on ballot (December 10, 2003)

** It would raise an estimated $675,000 a year for schools.

By Marjorie Mader

Almanac Staff Writer

A proposal to renew the current parcel tax and increase it to $290 a year will be on the March 2 ballot in the Portola Valley School District.

At a special meeting December 2, district trustees unanimously approved a resolution to ask voters to continue the current $195 annual tax, set to expire June 30, 2004, and increase the tax by $95 a year.

If two-thirds of the voters approve the measure, the new tax would raise approximately $675,645 annually for the next 10 years, beginning July 1, 2004, the district estimates. The tax would expire in 10 years. The current tax raised $450,645 for the current school year.

The school board says the money would be used to:

** Emphasize science, reading, writing and math instruction at the district's two schools: Ormondale (grades K-3) and Corte Madera (grades 4-8).

** Attract and retain qualified, experienced teachers.

** Provide necessary educational programs and materials.

Trustees included in the ballot measure provisions for an annual citizen oversight committee to monitor the expenditures, and an annual tax exemption for seniors, 65 years and older, who own and reside on their property. Seniors must apply for the exemption.

The resolutions were signed, sealed and personally delivered by Superintendent Anne Campbell to the county elections department and the county superintendent of schools December 3, two days before the deadline to get a measure on the March presidential primary ballot.

If the measure fails, the district would loose $450,645 a year when the current tax expires in June, said Ms. Campbell.

Since last January when the infamous "local property tax grab" surfaced in the governor's proposed budget, trustees and many parents have focused on bridging the funding gap. Portola Valley schools lost money as a result of the state's mid-year cuts and later reductions in state funding for the current year.

Late last spring, private donors gave close to $192,416 to restore programs that were cut from the district's proposed budget, but placed on what was known as "the build-back list."

In a recent survey of district residents likely to vote in the March 2 election, 80 percent said they "valued maintaining and improving the quality of education as a priority in the community." They said they would be more likely vote for a parcel-tax measure that provides funds to improve programs for science, reading, writing, arithmetic and the fine arts and to attract and retained quality teachers.

Parents Denise Blocker and Janet Weintraut have volunteered to co-chair the campaign in support of the parcel tax measure.

E-mail Marjorie Mader at mmader@AlmanacNews.com

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