School board moves toward parcel tax

At its meeting Tuesday evening, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees received the results of the $35,000 survey taken to help the board decide whether to pursue a parcel tax to help fund its operations. The board last put a parcel tax before the voters in 2004, winning 63% support for an $85 per year tax, not enough to meet the 67% approval required for new taxes in California.
At the meeting in April when he was hired, John Whitehurst of Whitehurst Campaigns told the school board that his findings would be “part art and part science” – meaning that he would be the art and his data research team would be the science. His science team reported on the phone survey of 350 randomly selected registered voters in the district. His three key findings were: 1) education is important to voters, 2) teachers are well regarded, and 3) voters realize there is a need for additional funding.
The survey tested voter support at three levels: $225, $175, and $125 per year. None of them reached 67% approval, scoring only 34%, 59% and 60%, respectively. From this, Whitehurst applied his art, and recommended to the board that it could pursue a parcel tax, but at an amount “south of $100.” He also recommended putting it before the voters in November of this year, to avoid a skewed turnout in the February 2008 presidential primary election or a high turnout in the November 2008 general election.
After hearing from a few members of the public present, the board acknowledged that a parcel tax of about $100 was needed just to keep pace with anticipated declines in revenue from the state in the next few years. Superintendent Barbara Young was instructed to bring back to the board, for action at its regular meeting in June, proposed ballot language and a recommendation as to the amount to be sought.