IRVINE : School Trustees Await Measure R Vote Results

School board members are awaiting the outcome of today’s vote on Measure R with mixed emotions.

While some Irvine Unified School District trustees say the proposed half-cent sales tax increase is necessary to stabilize Orange County’s finances, they acknowledge that its approval could kill local support for a school district parcel tax. To compensate for projected budget shortfalls in coming years, the school board is considering asking city voters to approve a tax on commercial and residential properties.

A recent school district survey indicated that a majority of Irvine residents would support a parcel tax, but the number fell short of the required two-thirds majority. Most local voters who were surveyed said they would be less likely to support a parcel tax if Measure R is approved.

“I could not imagine asking our community to bear an additional tax,” said school board member Mary Ellen Hadley, a Measure R supporter who led the district’s attempt to pass a parcel tax in June, 1991. It failed by 211 votes.

School board President Tom Burnham, a Measure R opponent, estimates that a parcel tax of $100 a year could bring the district an additional $4 million in annual revenue.

Burnham said the vote on Measure R has become a referendum on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, rather than a test of whether residents will accept higher taxes in the wake of the county’s December bankruptcy filing.