The board of trustees officially decided to move forward with the possibility of putting a parcel tax on the March 2007 election ballots by unanimously approving a contract with Lew Edwards Group to provide a parcel tax feasibility study during Tuesday’s meeting.
“One of our tentative goals is to support the recommendations made by the Excellence Committee, and part of that is identifying funding sources,” said Superintendent John Casey.
A tentative agreement was reached during the April 11 meeting with three of the trustees approving the contract. Trustee Kris Weaver said at that time that she wasn’t comfortable with the cost of the study. The trustees approved the contract on the condition that Weaver and Board President Steve Pulido met with the Lew Edwards Group and felt comfortable working with them. Trustees Pat Kernan and Juanita Haugen met with the group prior to the April 11 meeting. Weaver said she approved of working with the group.
The Lew Edwards Group agreed to reduce its rate from $42,000 to $37,500, according to the staff report. From May to November, the group will develop an overall outreach plan to build community awareness, create brochures, mailers, radio and TV spots, help finalize a timeline and budget, train staff and volunteers and conduct opinion polling, among other tasks. Public opinion polling is estimated to cost the district an additional $25,000 and mailing cost is estimated to be $32,000.
“The mission is to get an accurate temperature of the waters,” Kernan said. Pulido added, “If there are problems I want to find out ahead of time, and not on Election Day.”
The parcel tax would go to fund adding counselors, class size reduction and furthering technology support, which are the top three items listed as priorities by the Excellence Committee–a 55-member committee comprised of school officials and community members tasked with finding ways to improve the district.
“I’ll be interested to see what (the Lew Edwards Group) finds out,” Weaver said. “I haven’t heard anything negative (about the parcel tax), but the question is what is the community willing to bear?”
