CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SOUTH PASADENA
Voters approved a parcel tax that would raise $1.7 million annually for South Pasadena schools, county elections officials announced Friday.
Nearly 68% of the 6,179 voters who cast ballots by mail voted for the $288-per-parcel levy, which needed to be approved by two-thirds of voters to go into effect.
The parcel tax will expire after four years, and will help the South Pasadena Unified School District retain small class sizes in kindergarten through third grade in the face of multimillion-dollar budget cuts from the state, officials said.
The tax is expected to raise $1.7 million annually.
As schools deal with billions of dollars in state funding cuts, districts are increasingly turning to local parcel taxes to shore up their finances.
In coming weeks, voters in the Palos Verdes, Rowland Heights and La Canada Flintridge districts will cast ballots on parcel taxes.
-- Seema Mehta
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