Portola Valley schools parcel tax measure still trailing behind

Election results as of the afternoon of March 16 show that Measure P, a parcel tax measure for the Portola Valley School District, is gaining in support as more votes are counted, but the measure is still falling short of the votes needed to pass.

With 67.77% of the votes counted by the afternoon of March 13, 64.43% of voters supported the measure, which requires a two-thirds, or 67%, voter majority, county election officials reported.

Semi-official election results released at 4:30 p.m. on March 13 show Measure P with 2,210 votes of support and 1,220 opposing votes (35.57%).

Those results include vote by mail ballots received in the mail by the Monday before Election Day, on March 3, vote by mail ballots returned at vote centers and drop boxes by the Sunday before Election Day, and a portion of votes cast at vote centers on Election Day, according to county elections officials. Results will be posted at 4:30 p.m. each weekday until all ballots are counted.

The numbers have shifted only slightly from the last results released in the early morning hours of March 4, when the measure had 63.46% voter approval. There were 1,525 more ballots counted between then and March 13.

Measure P would update the district’s Measure O parcel tax, which expires in June 2021. It would continue the tax at its current rate of $581 per parcel in its first year, then increase it by 3% in each following year for the duration of the tax, which would expire in 2028.

The current parcel tax generates about $1.2 million annually for Portola Valley School District classroom programs and teaching staff. The yearly boost in the tax would amount to an additional $17 to $21 per parcel annually, said district Chief Business Officer Connie Ngo.

In addition to Portola Valley residents, the district includes Woodside residents who live in the Skylonda and Skywood Acres neighborhoods and off Philips and Family Farm roads, and part of Mountain Home Road.

The current tax, Measure O, funds advanced math, science and technology programs; reading and writing programs; art and music programs; reduced class sizes; and retention of teachers for the district’s two schools, Ormondale and Corte Madera, according to the district website. District staff asserts that the measure “must be renewed” to maintain these programs.

Measure O passed in 2013 with 69% of the vote. It consolidated two expiring measures: Measure C (with an annual tax of $290 per parcel) and Measure D ($168 per parcel), and increased the rate by $123 per parcel to $581, Ngo said.