If this Crazy poll is accurate, Measure A won't pass

Yes, I know, it's fair to ask how scientific this poll is. No, it's not Gallup.


But if this poll (at left) has any crystal ball abilities, the $112-per-parcel tax for the Acalanes Union High School District won't pass--by just a couple percentage points. The majority of the 113 readers voting in this Crazy poll said "yes," but this parcel tax, like any other, needs to pass by a two-thirds majority. Sixty-four percent said yes, just not enough for the district to raise an additional $3.8 million a year to offset an $8 million shortfall. Since this is a mail-in ballot, it is likely that many people have already cast their ballots. 


The possibility this measure won't pass would be good news to at least one reader, who wrote on April 26:

"The average homeowner cannot bailout all services in our community - and that includes schools. There will be reduced everything, city, county, state. We must accept these facts and adjust to a different way of life as we know it.

More money by way of parcel tax will not solve underlying problems with administration and other funding deficits. Homeowners cannot carry this burden. It isn't practical or sustainable. But is the average citizen even wise enough to understand that?"

This tax would last for five years, and would supplement the district's existing parcel tax which is $189 per year. Residents who live in the Walnut Creek School District also pay an annual $82-per-parcel tax. 

The district says it will likely have to cut 50 teaching positions if Measure A doesn't pass. It will also have to eliminate science, foreign language, social studies, arts and math classes. Arts and other electives, including newspaper classes, could also go. 


The elimination of classes is worrisome to this Las Lomas High junior, who urged voters to say yes. 

"The  funding that this parcel tax is essential to my education. I am a junior now and almost every class I have sighned up for next year is on the chopping block. If I cannot take the advanced AP classes I need to be competative in my college applications next year I run the risk of not getting into my top pick colleges. We kids don't have the ability to vote yet so we have to ask you all to advocate for us.

One of the first comments on here ask who paid for phone banking and the mailers? Well, volunteers used their own personal cell phones for phone banking and like any other campaign the Measure A campaign was privately funded, so the campaign paid for all the reminders in the mail. I suppose this message is a little late, but if you haven't yet sent in your ballot think about it and think about saying yes. Thanks!"

Would you vote yes to new parcel taxes to support local public school districts?

So, once again, the state is in a financial crisis, and the budget numbers don't look good for local governments, including local school districts. Millions of dollars in shortfalls are being reported by school districts that serve Walnut Creek. The board for the Acalanes Union High School District, which includes Las Lomas and Acalanes high schools, has just approved putting another parcel tax measure on the ballot May 4.

Faced with a shortfall of nearly $5 million, the district is seeking a temporary $112-per parcel tax. But, just in November, the district won an extension of its $189-per parcel tax. District officials didn’t ask property owners for more money on the November ballot because they didn’t know how severe cuts would be in the coming year.

With things looking disastrous in Sacramento, the district faces cutting 57 teaching, counseling and staff positions. The temporary parcel tax would go on a May 4 mail-in ballot. Another $800,000, the district hopes, would come from parent club donations.

By the way, parcel taxes need two-thirds voter approval to pass, not just a simple majority. Many parents in this district, which has some of the Bay Area's top-ranked schools, are well off, and the high school and elementary school districts enjoy a long history of community fundraising and parent support.

If you would be affected by this parcel tax election, how would you vote? If you live in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, would you support a parcel tax to help that district dig its way out of the financial hole it is in? Last spring, the majority of voters in the Mt. Diablo district said yes to a parcel tax, but the measure failed to get a third-thirds approval.

As for the Walnut Creek School District, it already has an $82-per-parcel tax, which voters approved to extend in November. That tax will bring in about $1.2 million annually. However, this district faces a $1 million shortfall. To get input from teachers, parents, and the rest of the community, it has been holding a series of "Budget 101" meetings. Some meetings have already been held, but here are dates for future ones: 

--Tuesday, March 16, 7 p.m. Murwood Elementary
--Wednesday, March 17, 7 p.m. Walnut Creek Intermediate
--Thursday, April 1, Walnut Heights Elementary

School parcel tax extensions win voter approval

Measures G & H, the initiatives to permanently extend parcel taxes in the Acalanes Union and Walnut Creek school districts, both passed with more than 2/3 of the votes needed to win.


With all precincts reporting, voters approved Measure G, Acalanes' $189 per parcel tax extension, by 73 percent. Voters likewise approved Measure H, Walnut Creek's $82 per parcel tax by 73 percent.