Thirty years ago, Proposition 13 eliminated the property tax as a source of discretionary revenue for school districts. Since then, school districts in California have had few options for raising their own revenue.
The parcel tax (which was illegal before Prop. 13) emerged as the only source of discretionary tax revenue for school districts – because it's a tax on real estate parcels, not a tax on the value of the parcel.
Residents living in the Davis Joint Unified School District have made use of this tax to supplement the basic education program with additional science, music, art and foreign language teachers, plus librarians and counselors – programs that other districts have had to cut.
The first Davis parcel tax was passed by voters in 1984 and renewed in 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003. Voters approved the last four-year parcel tax in November 2007, for $200 per parcel.
Since that 2007 parcel tax passed, however, the state's budget situation has worsened, and with it the situation in local school districts. The Davis school district faced $2.8 million in cuts this last year. A one-time fundraising effort by the Davis Schools Foundation staved off $1.77 million in cuts, but the district still had to chop $1 million out of the budget.
So now the Davis school board is back, asking voters to add $120 a year to the 2007 parcel tax to avoid program cuts. Measure W would raise $2.4 million a year for the next three years.
Both the 2007 and 2008 parcel taxes would expire in 2011.
The additional $2.4 million a year would allow the Davis schools to preserve elementary science and music programs; preserve librarians at elementary and secondary schools; preserve class-size reductions for ninth- and 10th-grade English and math; preserve class periods for foreign language, music and physical education; and preserve extracurricular drama, debate, journalism and sports programs.
Measure W does not fund new programs.
If voters do not pass the parcel tax, the school district will have to cut $2.4 million from its budget.
So if voters pass Measure W, Davis residents would be paying the $200 from the 2007 parcel tax, plus the $120 from the 2008 parcel tax – a total of $320 per parcel for each of the next three years.
Measure W faces no organized opposition, though a ballot argument opposing the measure appears in the ballot pamphlet.
The main criticism of parcel taxes in general is that because they are a flat fee on every parcel, lower-income households bear a disproportionate share of the burden. Davis mitigates that by making the parcel tax lower on apartments ($50, instead of $120 in Measure W) and by exempting property owners age 65 and older, who fill out a form and return it to the school district.
Davis residents have a long history of extraordinary support for their schools, and every school in the district performs above state goals on the Academic Performance Index. To continue the tradition of excellence, Davis voters should vote "yes" on Measure W.
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