School board seeks $115 parcel tax increase

A measure to increase the annual parcel tax by $115 will be on the March 2007 ballot in the Las Lomitas Elementary School District, located in western Menlo Park, Ladera and parts of Atherton.

After a short discussion Wednesday evening, the district’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved a resolution asking voters to increase the current $196 parcel tax to $311 beginning in July 2007 and, rather than voting to renew the tax after six years, have it continue year after year unless the board repeals it.

The district needs the money, according to the resolution, to meet its goals of “maintaining the highest possible quality of education” and “providing the best qualified staff available” in a state in which the education funding environment is described as “precarious.”

Among the more specific priorities, the money would help to maintain the district’s elective offerings such as foreign languages, music and art, and the science, math and technology classes.

Board president David Bailard has said that current programs in the two-school district would suffer if the tax is not increased by $200.

The measure will not include an automatic cost of living increase, in part because it could jeopardize community support, said Trustee Lee Anderson.

Community support is a delicate issue in the district, where a recent survey showed that any increase above $98 a year would not garner the necessary approval by two-thirds of the voters. The $115 figure came about after “very careful” analysis of the survey data, trustees said.

“We’re trying to be as thorough as we can about what the community’s tax tolerance is,” Mr. Anderson said. “We’re undertaking this decision carefully with as much information and deliberation as we can. … There’s quite a bit of logic in this proposal (consistent) with what we’ve done in the past.”

As was the case with previous parcel tax measures, homeowners who are 65 or older can seek an exemption.