Group Seeks Easier OK for Tax Measures

Political, business and education leaders are laying the groundwork for a statewide ballot measure that would make it easier for school districts to raise money by increasing local property taxes.

The Silicon Valley-based Taxpayers for School Improvement is building support for an initiative that would reduce the percentage of voters needed to approve local parcel taxes -- from two-thirds, or 66.6%, to 55%. The group’s goal is to place the initiative on the 2006 state ballot.

The lower vote requirement would apply to school districts, community college districts and county offices of education, organizers said.

Property owners would face small increases on their annual tax bills in communities where school agencies successfully won voter approval for parcel taxes.

The money could be used to hire more teachers, buy more books or for other purposes determined by school systems, according to group leaders.

Advocates say the additional income would give cash-strapped school districts greater flexibility and control over expenses as they grappled with austere budgets.

“It’s pretty clear that tough times are going to continue in school funding. In tough times, a relatively modest amount of money can have an impact on what goes on in classrooms,” said state Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), one of the campaign’s chairmen, who pushed a similar measure unsuccessfully last year in the Assembly.

Simitian is spearheading the ballot drive with two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs: Democrat Reed Hastings, a member of the state Board of Education and the founder of Netflix, an Internet video rental service; and Republican Steve Poizner, a board member of the California Charter Schools Assn. and the founder of SnapTrack, a company that uses satellite technology to locate cellphone and pager users.

Anti-tax groups vowed to defeat the proposed ballot measure, which would amend a section of the state Constitution that requires schools to obtain a two-thirds vote to impose special taxes.

The critics say parcel taxes, which generally assess property equally regardless of size for a set number of years, unfairly punish lower-income homeowners.

“This is a tax-the-poor-and-middle-class [plan] to satisfy some ambiguous social good perceived by certain elites,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. “We will run a very aggressive campaign against it if they proceed.”

One of the measure’s organizers said the initiative would restore some amount of power to school districts in a state where decisions about funding are largely controlled by Sacramento.

“I’m not suggesting that every parcel tax is a great idea. There may be some that should be voted down,” Poizner said. “But I am of the opinion that local community folks should be allowed to decide for themselves.”

The proposed ballot measure is patterned after a successful 2000 state ballot initiative that reduced the number of votes required for local school construction bonds -- from 66.6% to 55%.

Voters have approved local school bonds at a higher rate since the passage of Proposition 39, which enabled districts to raise tens of millions of dollars for new schools.

About half of more than 340 parcel tax measures since 1983 have failed because of the two-thirds vote requirement. Many of them would have passed under the 55% threshold, according to data collected by School Services of California, a school-finance consulting firm in Sacramento.

Backers of the proposed parcel tax measure say that voters will embrace the idea as they did Proposition 39, particularly given the deep budget cuts schools have endured in recent years.

“There’s a political opportunity that has some momentum behind it,” said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Assn., which supports the lower vote requirement.

“More and more people are becoming concerned about the financial situation of the pubic schools and are willing to assess themselves a small amount of money to sustain programs,” Plotkin added.

In Los Angeles, school district officials have talked informally about seeking a parcel tax, said Board of Education President Jose Huizar.

He said the district has cut $1.3 billion from its budget over the last three years, largely because of state reductions. Yet the district’s operating expenses have risen because of growing enrollments and the opening of new schools, he said.

A parcel tax “has become more of a possibility because our budget situation is a lot more dire,” Huizar said.

Organizers of the proposed ballot measure are in the early stages of the campaign. They are seeking support, but have yet to file official ballot language with the state.

The backers have assembled an advisory group that includes educators, corporate chief executives and public officials.

The list includes Gap stores Chairman Don Fisher, a state Board of Education member; former state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin; and San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce President Jim Cunneen.