Alameda and Brisbane passed Parcel Taxes last month. Schools & Kids, posted by Another Parent, a resident of the Foothill Knolls neighborhood, on Apr 11, 2011 at 7:51 am
This website below is a good source of information on all ballot measures. You can see how recent parcel taxes have done and the upcoming parcel taxes for the Bay Area.
Measure County Rate Outcome
Cupertino Union, Measure C Santa Clara $125 for 6 years Pending
Davis, Measure A Yolo $200 for 2 years Pending
Jefferson Union, Measure C San Mateo $96 for 4 years Pending
John Swett, Measure A Contra Costa $60 for 4 years Pending
Lafayette, Measure B Contra Costa $176 for 4 years Pending
Los Altos, Measure E Santa Clara $193 for 6 years Pending
Los Gatos-Saratoga, Measure A Santa Cruz $49 for 6 years Pending
New Haven Unified, Measure B Alameda $180 for 4 years Pending
Pleasanton Unified, Measure E Alameda $98 for 4 years Pending
Ravenswood City, Measure B San Mateo $98 for 7 years Pending
San Carlos, Measure A San Mateo $110.60 for 8 years Pending
Sunnyvale, Measure B Santa Clara $59 for 7 years Pending
Posted by Stacy, a resident of the Amador Estates neighborhood, on Apr 11, 2011 at 11:19 am
Is there a document anywhere that describes the steps PUSD has done to reduce their expenses? The debate about this parcel tax always seems to immediately devolve into an argument for or against teachers. I assume that other cuts have been done by the district to live within their means? If more people knew what cost saving steps had already been performed, it might be easier to accept an increase in our taxes.
Posted by optimistic mom, a member of the Amador Valley High School community, on Apr 11, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Hi Stacy,
Short answer -- The school district has eliminated 67 teachers, 25 school staff and 17 administrators in the last 2 years.
For this coming year, the district has approved several items to deal with the projected cuts in state funding, which are available in this PDF from the February 22 board meeting:
Negotiations with the teachers and classified unions are ongoing. No word yet on whether or how much salary or other concessions might come out of that process.
Posted by optimistic mom, a member of the Amador Valley High School community, on Apr 11, 2011 at 1:01 pm
Longer answer, since the search function on these forums is junk... here are some links to stories and forum posts in the Weekly over the last 2 years that document actions taken by the district.
February 25, 2009: Notes on the Feb. 24 budget forum
Posted by Mike, a resident of the Highland Oaks neighborhood, on Apr 11, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Were the positions eliminated through attrition, or were motivated staff set adrift? I wonder how many of our caring employees could have avoided layoff if we had all agreed to share the burden of our reduced circumstances by accepting deeper pay cuts.
Posted by John, a resident of the Del Prado neighborhood, on Apr 11, 2011 at 3:52 pm
This is such a disaster I almost feel we should fire everyone involved in this circus from the Superintendent on down including Liz. For her, Liz, to think that a freeze means years later making the increases retro just shows how out of touch she truly is and where is our whiz bang new superintendent we had to have? She replaced a guy who was terrible and took his money and ran and now we have her, Liz, and our dummy school board. I think they should all be sued personally when this goes belly up and it will.
Posted by Fred, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Apr 11, 2011 at 4:27 pm
John,
Sounds like you are just randomly slinging mud. How could "this go belly up"? What could that even mean?
Our school system is one of the best in the state. The worst recession since World War II has caused a shortfall in revenue and PUSD must deal with that. I think they are doing an outstanding job.
Posted by Ennis, a resident of the Pleasanton Valley neighborhood, on Apr 11, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Anyone else catch the irony of this? Folks, there are 11 other school districts with Parcel Tax initiatives -not counting those from the last election- so inspite of all of the mis-management finger-pointing it's not as if PUSD is even remotely alone in this challenge. Yes, cuts have been made, headcount reduced already and while most of us have experienced unemployment at some point in our careers, $8.17 per month isn't going make a huge difference in any family budget. Bottom line, as Fred commented above, PUSD, and countless other districts, have been dealing with continual revenue shortfall due to the tough economic climate of the last few years.
Posted by question, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Apr 11, 2011 at 6:24 pm
"Bottom line, as Fred commented above, PUSD, and countless other districts, have been dealing with continual revenue shortfall due to the tough economic climate of the last few years."
And what do you do when there is revenue shortfall in real life? Raise salaries? Reduce quality?
I checked this link.
2 out of 18 parcel taxes passed in November. I hope our 250k + whatever we're paying the consultants is going to pan out.
It looks to me like you need to make a great effort and get huge community buy-in to get one passed. I wish that the funds could be allocated more specifically as I think it would win more votes.
I have voted yes, but in this day and age, people want to know where funds are going and there is nothing wrong with that. The board is meeting tomorrow I think so I hope they clarify. Having said that, most people have probably voted by now.
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