CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LONG BEACH

School trustees voted Monday to place a parcel tax on the November ballot. The measure, if approved by a two-thirds majority, would raise $11.5 million annually for five years with the goal of offsetting reduced state funding for schools. Individual property owners within Long Beach Unified would pay $92 per parcel.

Voters in the state’s third-largest school system have previously approved two local school construction bonds that remain on the tax rolls. Money from the two construction bonds cannot be used to pay for ongoing operations, unlike the parcel tax. The sales pitch to voters will include the district’s being recognized as one of the more successful urban school systems.

Long Beach Unified has 88,000 students and serves Long Beach, Signal Hill, Catalina Island and portions of Lakewood.

-- Howard Blume