Parcel tax campaign on track

Sonoma Valley Unified School District Superintendent Barbara Young says the campaign for the passage of Measure E, the district’s proposed parcel tax on the Nov. 6 ballot, “is going really well.” In an interview Monday, Young said the response received by volunteers at phone banks from potential voters “has been very positive.”
The parcel tax, which would require a two-thirds vote for approval, would run for six years at a cost of $91 per parcel per year—about 25 cents per day— and generate between $1.2 and $1.4 million for Sonoma Valley schools.
The district has provided a question-and-answer “fact sheet” that officials say addresses the most frequent queries from the public. These include:
Question: “Why should we support the measure?”
Answer: “The (district) has been managing operating deficits for the past several years and will continue to face them. Many school districts have parcel taxes for education, from the smallest districts like West Sonoma County ($26 per parcel) … to more comparable districts like Petaluma ($125 per parcel) and Novato ($155 per parcel). Sonoma Valley does not have a parcel tax, putting us at risk of declining education quality.”
Q: “Will it solve all of our school needs?”
A: “No. This is a local component and a first step that will be supplemented by other funds including state and federal. However, increases in basic state and federal funding simply aren’t enough to maintain the quality of programs we need … (to) stave off future cuts.”
Q: “What will the money do for our schools?”
A: “Expand vocational education and library services and restore district sports funding, as well as prevent … funding cuts that will result in increased class size and decreased educational quality.”
Q: “How do I know the money will be spent as promised?”
A: “The measure includes limits on how the money can be spent and strict accountability measures to make sure … taxes are used appropriately. By law, all funding from this measure must stay in our local schools. A citizens oversight committee will be established to review all expenditures.”