County supervisors slated to discuss measure at meeting
today
A countywide education ballot initiative that would raise $77 million for teacher stipends and improving students’ reading skills could go to taxpayers this November.
County supervisors – one of two groups that could place the parcel tax on the ballot – are scheduled to discuss the proposal at today’s meeting.
The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, an organization of education, business and government leaders, first proposed the county parcel tax to improve public education last year, to mixed support. In recent polls, 70 percent of voters approved of the tax, said Larry Carr, a member of the group’s task force recommending the tax. Two-thirds of Santa Clara County voters must approve the bill for it to pass.
Even if voters in one school district do not approve it by a two-thirds majority, as long as the countywide vote is a two-thirds majority, the tax will be levied on all county taxpayers, with the exception of senior citizens. All school districts in the county would receive money from the tax.
“There is urgency legislation before the Senate right now to grant us the authority to do this,” said Carr, a Morgan Hill councilman and former school board member.
Morgan Hill School Board President George Panos said he would need more information on the tax before he could comment.
MHSD Trustee Jan Masuda said she would like to know how the money could be spent, if there were spending restrictions. T
The bill would let either the county or the county office of education to place the first-of-its-kind countywide tax of between $95 and $195 per parcel.
The new tax would be in effect for eight years.
“That’s sort of going to start the whole ball rolling,” said Carr, now the director of government relations at Stanford Hospitals and Clinics.
At least 90 percent of local funds raised would stay in the local district.
With approval from two-thirds of voters, Gilroy School District coffers could increase by more than $2 million annually, Carr told trustees June 3. The money would go toward teacher stipends and reading programs.
“There are two goals,” said Dennis Cima, director of education and workforce preparedness for the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group. “One is to help districts bring all students up to grade level in reading. The second is to have a qualified credentialed teacher in every classroom. Currently, 85 percent of county classrooms have a credentialed teacher.”
But the news is worse with reading – only 50 percent of county students are reading at grade level, Cima said.
Money from the parcel tax would be divided, with 70 percent of the money to be used for professional development and literacy. Cima said guidelines on how that money would be spent would be flexible, because the same programs do not work for every district.
Thirty percent of the money would be used to fund a teacher stipend for credentialed teachers. For those not credentialed, the money would be used to help that teacher complete credentials.
The teacher stipend would be the same across all 32 districts in the county. A parcel tax of $195 would mean a stipend of around $2,000 per teacher.
“We don’t want a district like Palo Alto, with more money, to have an edge to take your teachers away,” said Carr, a former director of education and workforce preparedness for the manufacturing group.
For teachers without full credentials, districts would use the stipend money to help them become credentialed.
The remaining funds would be geared toward improving reading, although individual districts would ultimately determine how they would be spent, Carr said.
Ten percent of money raised countywide would be targeted to the lowest performing students.
The ballot initiative would include an accountability measure as well, establishing a citizens oversight group. Also, the tax would be approved for an eight-year period, after which it would go to the voters once again.
Voters were actually polled for tax levels of $95, $145 and $195, Carr said, but support only varied by a few percentage points when the highest amount was used.
“If we continue to grow and if we continue to improve our district, that money coming back in – even directly to teacher stipends and assisting non-credentialed teachers in continuing to work on their credentials and helping low-performing students – that‘s what we’re doing,” Rogers said. “It would fit in and help us greatly.”
It will be an “uphill battle” to get the initiative on the November ballot, he said.
The bill must pass by two-thirds in both the Senate and Assembly and be signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. If the supervisors or the county education board back it on the November ballot, two-thirds of voters must approve it to pass.
