Faced with the growing threat of another round of state budget cuts next year for public schools if Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax hike fails at the polls in November, the Davis Board of Education agreed Thursday to seek help again from local voters.

The board voted unanimously to put a two-part parcel tax on the Nov. 6 ballot.

First, the school board will ask homeowners to renew Measure A, a $204 “emergency” parcel tax that voters approved in May 2011. That two-year tax, which generates $3.2 million annually for Davis schools, will expire on June 30, 2013. The proposed new tax would take effect July 1, 2013, and expire in June 2017.

Second, the board also will ask voters for permission to charge up to $242 per year per single-family home, but only if Brown’s statewide ballot measure funding education and public safety through temporary taxes fails on Nov. 6.

That would result in another $3.5 million in budget “trigger cuts” to the Davis schools.

The worst-case scenario would see Davis homeowners paying $446 annually to local schools through this measure.

Owners of multi-unit dwellings — apartments, condos, duplexes and so on — would pay $20 per unit per year under the proposed new tax, as they currently pay under Measure A. That figure would stay firm, regardless of whether Brown’s tax passes.

As trustee Richard Harris pointed out, any parcel tax approved by local voters allows the school board to charge up to a specific amount; the board always has the authority to levy a lower amount than the maximum authorized.

Superintendent Winfred Roberson outlined some of the consequences that could occur if Measure A funding is not renewed and another $3.5 million in cuts were to come down from the state.

He said Davis may have to eliminate another 100 to 110 teachers, leading to even larger class sizes; possibly cut seventh-period classes at the junior high and high school levels; further reduce the number of courses offered at the junior high and high schools; and reduce vice principals.

Davis eliminated about 50 teaching positions several years ago through a retirement incentive and this spring cut another 54 positions — 42 teachers and nine paraeducators — which will result in significantly larger class sizes at all campuses this fall.

This spring’s staffing reductions would not be restored under the proposed tax approved Thursday by the board.

The school district also laid off junior high vice principals and some counselors at the secondary level this spring. The nonprofit Davis Schools Foundation is in the midst of a $500,000 fundraising campaign that seeks to restore those positions for the coming year.

Harris said some voters may object to a renewal of Measure A, which was presented in 2011 as a two-year measure that the board would not ask to be renewed. But as Harris noted, “It’s still an emergency!” with state funding continuing to nosedive.

Superintendent Roberson added, “It’s not easy to ask (voters) for money. But we need money in order to educate children. And we’ve already seen significant reductions from the state.”

All told, Davis schools have lost $12 million per year in state funding since 2007.

Jim Herrington, head of the local unit of the California School Employees Association — which represents custodians, secretaries and staff — noted that the parcel taxes approved in recent years “were all ‘catch-up taxes.’ Every single one of them is a backfill” for an even larger reduction in state funding.

Trustee Sheila Allen said that at one point, she had considered urging her fellow school board members to wait until next spring — after the November election — to ask local voters for help. But seeing the dimensions of the problem if Measure A isn’t renewed and Brown’s tax measure fails, “I decided not to try to talk you into waiting.

“We have to put it before voters, and let them decide,” she said.

Jose Granda, representing the No on School Board Taxes Political Action Committee, criticized the trustees for seeking to renew Measure A after describing it two years ago as an emergency measure.

“It is not credible,” he said, adding that he might challenge in court the “very misleading language” in the ballot measure approved Thursday.

Granda also questioned whether it’s legal to offer senior citizens and those living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) a parcel tax exemption.

Attorney Peter Sturges, who advises the school district on parcel tax measures, said those exemptions are specifically allowed under state law.

Granda also urged the board to put two separate measures before voters — one reauthorizing Measure A and the other authorizing a new tax if voters reject Brown’s statewide measure.

— Reach Jeff Hudson at [email protected] or (530) 747-8055.

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Davis Board of Education members — from left, Richard Harris, Tim Taylor and Susan Lovenburg — wear grim faces Thursday as they contemplate the magnitude of budget cuts that would result if Measure A is not renewed and California voters turn down Gov. Jerry Brown’s temporary tax hikes to fund education statewide. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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