Big chunk of schools’ future rides on Measure C
Math teachers, science teachers, reading teachers, English teachers.
Music, art, social studies and foreign languages.
Athletics.
Librarians and instructional aides.
Counselors and nurses.
Smaller class sizes.
All of these and more are supported by two existing local parcel taxes paid by Davis homeowners and renters to ensure continued excellence in the public schools. Those taxes, which generate about $6.5 million annually — just less than 10 percent of the school district’s $69 million general fund budget — are due to expire in June.
So Davis voters are being asked to approve Measure C, a five-year, $320-per-year tax that will be decided in a mail-only election this spring. Apartment dwellers would be assessed $150 per year.
“There would be big cuts across the board” if Measure C does not reach the required two-thirds majority for passage, said Superintendent Winfred Roberson. The Davis school board has, in fact, already prepared a list of some 86 positions that would receive layoff notices if Measure C fails.
“It would impact athletics, music, libraries, counselors, all kinds of classrooms,” Roberson said. “It would completely alter our landscape. We’re talking an entirely different academic program” than what Davis enjoys now.
Roberson said he’s optimistic that the voters will say yes.
“Voters here have continued to support the school district’s parcel tax since the first measure, back in 1984,” he said. “The expectations (on the part of the community) are there.
“The services that will be provided through Measure C are things that make Davis unique. This parcel tax has really been instrumental in allowing us to focus on developing the whole child.”
Added Board of Education President Susan Lovenburg, “Successful passage of Measure C is critically important to our students. Without it, a bad situation becomes much worse.
“It’s not easy,” Lovenburg admitted. “Our employees are weary of doing more with less. Our taxpayers are weary of being asked to fund shortfalls. Our parents and community volunteers are weary of rallying the troops year after year.
“We’re beyond weary — we are bordering on exhaustion. But we simply cannot rest. There is nothing more foundational to the success of our community than the education of our children.”
Like previous iterations of the parcel tax, Measure C has an exemption for senior citizens who apply for it. It also contains a new voluntary exemption available to homeowners who receive Supplemental Security Income for a disability.
This is one of several points that rankles Jose Granda, a critic of Measure C.
“Either no one should be exempt from the tax, or those who choose the exemption should abstain from voting and avoid passing the buck to someone else,” Granda said. “You cannot have it both ways.”
Granda also objects to the mail-only election. Ballots will be sent to voters by the Yolo County Elections Office on Monday, and are due back by March 6. Voters can mail back their ballots or deposit them in secure drop boxes at the Stephens Branch Library, 315 E. 14th St. in Davis, and at the Elections Office at the County Administration Building, 625 Court St. in Woodland.
Granda and fellow opponent Thomas Randall Jr. have dubbed vote-by-mail elections as “a questionable undemocratic process” that “eliminates poll workers” and “completely changes fair elections.” They went to court to defend their ballot arguments, but Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam deleted some of their wording as non-factual. Other portions of the arguments were ruled OK.
Granda and Randall also contend that school districts should “balance the budget and live within their means” rather than seek additional funding from voters.
“An additional tax of this nature is ‘forced tuition in public schools,’ ” the pair wrote in their ballot arguments. “Nowadays, people are losing their jobs and their homes.”
But former school board president Joan Sallee — who recently hosted a Measure C campaign fundraiser in her home — said, “I can’t imagine what will happen to our schools if Measure C doesn’t pass. It would be cataclysmic.
“Measure C provides funding for essential programs like music, science at the elementary level, reading and math support, as well as counseling at the secondary level, school libraries, class size reduction and a host of other aspects of our schools that we have come to expect and that all children deserve.”
As budget cuts have come down from the state over the past three years, the Davis school district has trimmed its staff by 20-some teaching positions, and increased class sizes at the elementary, junior high and high school levels.
And while approval of Measure C would keep some further cuts at bay, it is by no means a cure-all for the financial dilemmas facing Davis schools.
Last week, the Board of Education discussed how to address a $3.5 million structural deficit at current staffing levels, which the district will need to deal with even if Measure C is approved. Staff reductions, employee concessions, a shorter school year and other options may be proposed.
The school district also could face an additional $3 million in red ink if Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed tax increase fails at the polls in November. Polls are showing support from California voters.
“It is a complicated picture and there are no simple answers,” Lovenburg said. “The only response to insufficient revenue is reduction in expenditures, be it through program cuts, employee concessions or a combination of both.”
— Reach Jeff Hudson at jhudson@davisenterprise.net or (530) 747-8055.
Find it online
* Yolo County Elections Office website contains full ballot text, ballot arguments for and against Measure C, and impartial analysis of financial impact: http://www.yoloelections.org/election_central/voter_guide
* Yes For Our Students committee, supporting Measure C: http://www.yesforourstudents.org/
* No School Board Taxes committee, opposing Measure C: http://www.noschoolboardtaxes.org/
* District Dollars website maintained by Davis Joint Unified School District, with budget information and interactive features: http://www.districtdollars.org/welcome
* Five-minute video, “Davis Parcel Taxes in Plain English,” produced by Davis Community Network, with narration by actress/musician Megan Smith, a Davis High School graduate: http://www.districtdollars.org/parcel and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqm9vVaSmko
Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=133263
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Posted by Jeff Hudson
on Feb 3 2012.
Last Login: Sat 19 May 2012 11:40:19 AM PDT
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Vote Yes on Measure C: For Our Children and For Our Community!
Our children are our future, and it is our responsibility, as the residents and caretakers of our great community, to do the right thing for our children’s future and for our community!
VOTE YES ON MEASURE C!
http://www.yesforourstudents.org/
It’s time the school district learned to budget and live within its means. They will keep coming to us for more and more money and never learn to adjust to reality if we just keep feeding them.
It’s a renewal. In addition they will be looking for other cuts later in the year. This is an issue of whether you want the state to determine what kind of schools we have or should we determine whether we can have elementary science, crisis counselor, athletics, elementary music, and staffed libraries at the schools. You only have to look at other school districts to see what those cuts will look like.
Not a renewal by any means. A new more expensive tax
Take a look:
http://noschoolboardtaxes.org
http://noschoolboardtaxes.org/new_is_a_new_tax.html
I am opposed to Measure C. I am especially opposed to the endless litany of hyperbole (“cataclysmic”, “we’re beyond weary”, “it would alter our landscape”, “our children are our future”). My property tax bill already has several assessments for “DAVIS JT UNIF”, including Measures A and W. These are in addition to landscape/lighting, open space, library and Los Rios Community College assessments. I agree that, “The only response to insufficient revenue is reduction in expenditures.” The children are our future and it is our resposibility to teach them financial responsibility the judicious stewardship of public funds.
Our children are our future. What are you thinking???
Currently, there are 25 little people in each K-3 class. Without Measure C, it will rise to 30 children. Two years ago, it was only 20 kids in a class. That is one reason why the test scores slipped a bit last year in our district, although they are still excellent.
Measure C funds very fundamental things that our schools need, which the great state of California is too bankrupt to fund anymore.
Science in the grade schools- do you really think science is a “frill” that we should eliminate? Science incorporates reading and math, the fundamentals. Music in the schools- roughly 50% of the grade school kids participate in the orchestra, which will be eliminated. Being able to start a foreign language in junior high- look at the world we live in! It’s global. Our kids NEED to learn a foreign language.
The school do have responsible stewardship of public funds. We rank literally at the bottom of the amount of money we give our public schools. Many “backward” states in the south, for example, spend more money on their schools than we do!
Don’t be nuts- vote for Measure C.
I feel like someone (the teachers union) has taken my kids hostage, and I keep getting ransom notices to pay more & more money. With this tax I will pay around $20,000 in my lifetime, just from this ransom note (tax) alone.
Stop- “ransom note.” Really? Come on, spare us the hyperbole! How much do you think a grade school teacher in Davis makes? A million dollars?? They make like $50,000-60,000 a year. Do you really think you can attract and retain bright young people for such a paltry sum?
Would you take a job like that? My kids’ teachers are literally Mary Poppins; I would pay alot more money for what we get.
Don’t be absurd.
Mike H: “I agree that, “The only response to insufficient revenue is reduction in expenditures.” The children are our future and it is our resposibility to teach them financial responsibility the judicious stewardship of public funds.”
The school district has done that. It has used a combination of these strategies: cuts to staffing at all levels, increased class sizes, elimination of some class offerings, retirement incentives to senior teachers, salary cuts across the board, community fundraising, cuts to supplies and services budget, spending of reserve funds (including federal stimulus funds), spending of previously restricted funds (allowed for by the state), closed a school, improved student attendance (which brings more state funding), utilities conservation, allowing for limited numbers of out-of-district students to enroll where a few classroom seats are available, and local parcel taxes.
Kid are our future. However, over the past few years my family has had to make sacrifices due to financial difficulties. I grew up in Davis and love this town and I want to stay here and raise my children here. But my family and I are just scraping by and may not be able to continue to live in Davis because it is too expensive. An additional $320 per year may not sound like a lot to some but it is to us. Between the water tax, school tax, park tax, lighting/open space assessments, etc the additional fees are adding up and taking a toll. We have cut our phone, internet, cable, reduced insurance coverage, and retirement funding to stay in Davis but there is nothing left for us to cut other than move to Dixon or Woodland. In spite of past votes of “yes” for our schools, this time around I am voting no on measure C, and asking the schools and school administrators to make the cuts necessary, as I have with my own finances, to live within our means and do the best with what we have.
“An additional $320 per year may not sound like a lot to some but it is to us.”
You know what? It isn’t an additional $320. It’s a renewal. It’s $320 this year. If Measure C passes, then it would continue that amount next year.
The idea that it is “additional” money is misinformation spread by Mr. Granda and Randall.
This is what it looks like to cut schools:
http://www.kcra.com/news/30367980/detail.html?treets=sac&tid=2657004135813&tml=sac_12pm&tmi=sac_12pm_1_02000202032012&ts=H
Bud
Stick to the facts rather than personal attacks. Measure C costs $320 plus and automatic CPI increse each year the School Board tacked on this measure and it is for five years. The price does not stay at $320. Remember with measure A on top of it is $520. So anyone voting for Measure C is aquiring a debt of $1,600 plus the automatic increase based on the Consumer Price Index. It is just as aquiring a $1,600 debt with variable interest. You will not know the amount until you get your tax bill. If you think these are rumors. Please read the fine print of the measure and debate the facts. See::
http://noschoolboardtaxes.org/Measure_C_sample_ballot.pdf
I’ll vote for it begrudgingly. But I do feel like things are already bad. At Montgomery Elem. the classes are packed, the lunch program is atrocious, some kids have to eat on the floor due to lack of tables, but we have plenty of room for English learners. Now this meager program with poor test scores to boot is being threatened to become worse if I don’t pay ~$500 more?
Didn’t I just pay $200 a little while back for the schools? This is all adding up to quite a tidy sum for someone to keep living in Davis! (keeping in mind all other fees, grocery bills, etc going up) I’m not particularly struggling but I am against forcing out folks who may not be able to pay for all those extras, especially during the last few years. The schools can afford to cut back a little more during these hard times like most other folks have.
Measure A is $200/year for two years. It expires after next year. If Measure C passes, then the school board will most likely let that one expire. Measure A covered mostly what was lost when the state legislature let a number of taxes expire — 1% sales tax, almost doubling of the vehicle license fee, higher state income tax. That’s one big reason we still have the state deficit. They let taxes fall. Revenue hasn’t come it to replace it, though; that’s what’s supposed to happen according to the conservative supply-side model.
The families who benefit the most from Measure C are those from lower income. Many of them live in apartments or subsidized Section 8 housing.
So does everyone know that you’ll no longer be able to deduct these local taxes on your tax returns? You’ll only be allowed to deduct taxes based on the value of your home. That’s how I understand this article anyway if I’m reading it right.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/05/BUG61N2O5K.DTL
If you read carefully, you’ll see that if you’ve been honest with your taxes, you’ve never legally been able to take this deduction.
JD, but if you read carefully you’ll see that almost everyone automatically always deducted their entire homeowners tax bill and the state never questioned it. So the way I understand the article is now the state is going to start enforcing the law so for those who thought they could write off these school tax measures they are in for a big surprise.
What did you do on your taxes?