Las Lomitas district parcel tax is scuttled for now Las Lomitas district parcel tax is scuttled for now (January 21, 2004)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

With the governor proposing to increase state education funding for grades K-12 in 2004-05, the idea of a parcel tax in the Las Lomitas School District is off the table for now.

At a January 13 meeting, the district's five-member governing board unanimously decided not to place a $98 parcel tax on the ballot of a special election in April. The 5-0 decision came after a presentation of survey results showing community support for the tax to be right on the cusp of garnering the two-thirds majority vote needed for passage.

In the state budget proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, schools receive a funding boost of $2 billion, about half of the $4 billion owed them in fiscal year 2004-05 under state Proposition 98.

This budget proposal will be revised in May, but barring any big surprises, the Las Lomitas district has sufficient reserves to ride out the school year, said board president Steve Sowiski.

"The voters have kept good faith with us," Mr. Sowiski said, adding that he thought the district should wait on the parcel tax. "If things go horribly awry at the state level ... we'll probably have to be back to the voters in November."

Asking voters for money without making a good case could damage the district's credibility, said Trustee Lee Anderson.

And there will be other financial requests of voters at about the same time, said Trustee Leslie Airola-Murveit. These include two statewide bond measures on the March 2 ballot: $15 billion to fund the state's deficit and $12.3 billion for K-14 education facilities.
Survey results

The survey of 303 registered voters in the district, conducted by Brad Senden of the Center for Community Opinion between January 6 and 11, found that when voters were informed that the district had cut $400,000 from its budget last year, 66.3 percent supported the tax, just short of the 66.67 percent needed to pass the measure.

Voter support rose to 68 percent when told of the effect the cuts had had on teaching positions, programs and class size and that a new tax would restore the lost funds. When told that the tax would be $98, approval fell slightly to 67.3 percent.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points. "What we're seeing is either a very narrow win or a very narrow loss," Mr. Senden said to the board. "There's just not much wiggle room there."

The $98 tax would have increased the per-parcel payment to $294 per year. The current tax of $196 -- which expires in 2008 -- generates about $784,000 per year to pay for teacher salaries, training, student programs and other operating expenses.

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