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Lower-income districts would benefit from 55 percent parcel tax threshold, study suggests
Only about one in eight school districts in California have passed a parcel tax, and they predominantly have been wealthier and smaller districts. But if the threshold for passing a parcel tax were dropped from a two-thirds majority to 55 percent, an EdSource analysis suggests more districts with larger enrollments of low-income students would pass them. “Raising Revenues Locally,” an extensive look at three decades of parcel taxes, found that, had the 55 percent threshold been in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Funding and Taxation, Parcel Tax, Reporting & Analysis
Bill would allow charging commercial properties a bigger parcel tax
A newly elected assemblymember has introduced a bill that could make parcel taxes more attractive to school districts by allowing them to impose different tax rates on residential and commercial properties. The bill, AB 59, by Assemblymember Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, would nullify a state Appeals Court ruling in December overturning an Alameda Unified School District parcel tax that levied one rate for residential and small commercial properties, and another for larger commercial properties. Bonta also represents Alameda. A … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Funding and Taxation, Parcel Tax, Reporting & Analysis
Appeals court imposes restrictions on parcel taxes
Democrats in the Legislature are poised to help make it easier for school districts to pass parcel taxes, but a court ruling this month – if it withstands an appeal – will narrow the scope of what parcel taxes can tax. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Funding and Taxation, Parcel Tax, Reporting & Analysis
Districts face questions in spending long-term bonds for short-lived technology
(Update: Please note corrections at the end of the article on points marked with an asterisk.) Is it legal to buy personal computers for students using school construction bonds? And if it’s legal, is it wise to pay interest long-term on devices with a short shelf life? … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Parcel Tax, Reporting & Analysis, Technology, Twenty-first Century Learning
Renewed push for a 55 percent threshold to pass parcel tax
It didn’t take long for a Democratic senator among the newly empowered supermajority in the Legislature to go after a low-hanging fruit: lowering the threshold for passage of a local parcel tax for education. On Thursday, Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco announced he would introduce a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to pass parcel taxes for school districts and community colleges by 55 percent instead of the current two-thirds majority. “This change in law would give voters the power to make decisions about public education at the local level, allowing schools much-needed flexibility to improve instruction, fund libraries, music, the arts or other programs, or hire more teachers to reduce student-to-teacher ratios,” Leno said in a statement. Requiring a two-thirds majority to raise taxes was part of Proposition 13, passed in 1978. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Parcel Tax, Quick Hits, Taxes
Fensterwald clarifies Gov. Brown’s claims about Prop. 30 in KQED interview
Given how Gov. Brown and others promoted Prop. 30, some are are under the impression that passage of the measure is a great windfall for California schools. Not exactly, say EdSource’s John Fensterwald in an interview with KQED’s Cy Musiker. Of the $6 billion expected to be raised by Prop. 30, Fensterwald says about $3 billion will make it to schools. While that may “stop the bleeding” and help stabilize school finances, it does little to increase California’s per-pupil spending, an important measure of how well states support their schools. As Fensterwald notes, in one study California was ranked 47th in spending per pupil. It’s unlikely passage of Prop. 30 will improve that measure much. To learn more and listen to the full interview, visit With Prop. 30 Victory, Brown Paints Rosier … Read entire article »
Filed under: 2012 election, Funding and Taxation, Initiatives, Parcel Tax, Presentations/Interviews, Quick Hits
The Prop 30 windfall – not yet
When Proposition 30 won on Tuesday, it led a sweep of nearly two dozen local school parcel taxes and close to a hundred local school bonds approved by Californians that together will bring in tens of billions in new revenue for education. And some of those voters are already asking when their local schools will be rehiring laid-off teachers, reopening school libraries, and installing new technology. It will not be easy to explain that, at … Read entire article »
Filed under: Funding and Taxation, Initiatives, Parcel Tax, Reporting & Analysis, Revenue and taxes, School Boards, State Budget, Taxes
Local votes of confidence: Most bonds, parcel taxes pass
Proposition 30, raising statewide taxes to support education, was a nail biter, struggling to get a majority of voters behind it. But that wasn’t the case for most K-12 parcel taxes and school construction bonds on the ballot Tuesday. Voters passed 14 of 22 parcel taxes by margins of victory ranging from 67.1 percent – just above the requisite two-thirds majority – to an impressive 77.3 percent, in the Berryessa School District in San Jose … Read entire article »
Filed under: Facilities, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Parcel Tax, Reporting & Analysis
Fensterwald interviewed on KQED about why districts seek local funds
With more than 100 bonds and parcel taxes on the California ballot this November 6th—not to mention the competing school funding measures, Props. 30 and 38—voters have a lot to of education funding issues to consider this election day. To find out what’s driving the push for local school tax measures, KQED’s Cy Musiker interviewed EdSource Today editor John Fensterwald. As Fensterwald explains, passage of Parcel taxes and school bond measures in California is not easy. Parcel taxes require a two-third majority and most school bonds require a 55 percent majority for passage. Even so, historically about 80 percent of the school construction bonds and 60 percent of the parcel taxes have passed, and those percentages are even higher so far in 2012. But Fensterwald is quick to point out that … Read entire article »
Filed under: 2012 election, Elections, Funding and Taxation, Parcel Tax, Quick Hits, Revenue and taxes
Local-state funding should sync like a tandem bike
December 20th, 2012 | 10 Comments | By Jeff Camp / commentary
In 2013, most California education-watchers expect two policy debates about school finance. Two is not enough; there will need to be three. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Education Excellence Committee, Featured, Finance, Funding and Taxation, Parcel Tax, Revenue and taxes