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The Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder’s Office will soon be sending ballots to local voters for a special election next month that will determine the fate of two parcel tax measures to fund the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.
Voting in the all-mail election is set to begin in the coming days, with ballots expected to be in mailboxes across the San Ramon Valley by Monday (April 8) ahead of the special election on May 7 for Measure E and Measure F.
Both measures are seeking approval from voters on parcel taxes that would provide funding for SRVUSD, with Measure E being the renewal of an existing $144-per-year parcel tax and Measure F establishing a supplementary parcel tax of $98 annually.
The district’s Board of Education voted unanimously to pursue the measures in a special election following discussion on the matter at its Jan. 30 meeting, with sentiment largely being supportive of the taxes and the additional funding that they would bring the district, despite the cost of the special election
The board received one public comment that evening criticizing the proposed measures, alleging in part that the district has been misrepresenting the direness of its financial situation over the course of the 33 years since a 1991 parcel tax was rejected by voters, and challenging language in both the existing measure and the proposed new tax that states the funds will not be used to pay for administrator salaries.
The campaign in favor of the two measures has been on ever since, with the “Yes on Measures E and F” campaign now boasting numerous endorsements, including from all five SRVUSD trustees, the entire Danville Town Council, and four members of the San Ramon City Council with the exception of Mayor Dave Hudson. Other endorsements include the San Ramon and Danville chambers of commerce, the San Ramon Valley Education Association and the San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs.
There appears to be no formal opposition campaign to either measure.
Measure E would renew the existing $144-per-parcel annual tax that is set to expire in 2025; the tax was first passed by voters in 2004, then in 2010 and 2015. Funds from the tax generate approximately $6.8 million annually, which are used for teacher retention and recruitment, STEM programming, and college and career readiness efforts. The measure on the table for voters this year would renew the tax for an additional nine years.
Measure F would establish an additional $98 parcel tax annually for an estimated $4.6 million annually for nine years, with the goal of making up for a shortfall in state funds and maintaining programs and initiatives that were funded with one-time funding sources during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include reading and literacy programs for young students, mental health needs, and additional special needs specialists and counselors.
Both measures require a minimum of two-thirds voter support in order to pass in the upcoming special election.
Vote-by-mail ballots are set to go out Monday to registered voters. The deadline to register to vote in the special election is April 22, with April 30 being the final day to request a ballot.
Ballots must be postmarked by Election Day on May 7, with ballot dropboxes available at the following locations:
Alamo Plaza Shopping Center at 190 Alamo Plaza in Alamo.
Danville Park and Ride at Sycamore Valley Road and the Interstate 680 exit in Danville.
Danville Maintenance Service Center at 1000 Sherburne Hills Road in Danville.
Contra Costa Clerk-Recorder-Elections Office at 555 Escobar St. in Martinez.
Alcosta Senior And Community Center 9300 Alcosta Blvd. in San Ramon.
Dougherty Station Community Center at 17011 Bollinger Canyon Road in San Ramon.
San Ramon Community Center at 12501 Alcosta Blvd. in San Ramon.
Dropboxes will be open starting Monday. Results from the May 7 election are set to be certified by the county June 6.
Not mentioned in the article above: Measure E includes an annual inflation-escalator clause, to continue boosting the amount collected every year for 9 years. SRVUSD’s own ballot label (the 75-word summary which voters see on their ballots) refers only to “annual adjustments.” And the tax-promoter campaign omits the inflationary language altogether.
The District sought a similarly sneaky parcel-tax inflator in 2008, atop an intended increase to $144 from the $90 parcel tax they had finally passed in 2004.
Voters wisely rejected the whole mess, so SRVUSD came back with a flat $144 amount, and passed that in 2009 (not 2010). They were then able to renew the flat $144 in 2015.
Voters who visit https://www.betterschoolsnotmoretaxes.com/srvusd-finances will see why SRVUSD doesn’t need either Measure E ($144 + annual inflator) or Measure F (additional, flat $98 increase) now. Enrollment now is 3,000 fewer students than in 2015; but District spending this year has increased by an inflation/enrollment-adjusted $158 Million since 2015. And the announced purposes for these amounts are essentially the same the District has huckstered to the public since 1991.
See https://www.betterschoolsnotmoretaxes.com/srvusd-finances .
As is, the District misspends its existing dollars, on classroom instruction in critical race theory (though they avoid calling it that) and LGBTQ sexual-orientation and gender-bend mind alterations, beginning with story-book read-alouds in transition kindergarten (with vulnerably impressionable 4 and 5-year-olds). They layer in extensive, depraved pornography collections in their high school libraries.
Meanwhile, salaries and benefits continue their rapidly upward trajectory. See their compensation scales for 2022 at https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/school-districts/contra-costa/san-ramon-valley-unified ,
and keep in mind (a) that teachers have only a 186-day employment year, vs. 240 work days for most people; and (b) SRVUSD added 8.5% more (retroactively) in late 2022, then another 6.5% just this past February.
Yes, they announce that their take from Measures E and F would not fund administrator salaries. But that too is deceptive; in fact, new money would free up existing general-fund dollars for administrator me-too increases, the dishonest practice they’ve repeated in the past.
They then announced a cosmetic $10 Million in cuts to enhance their “woe is us” propaganda.
They could have consolidated their parcel-tax election with the just-finalized March 5 Primary election; but they’re happy instead to spend approximately $1 Million extra for this special May 7 election, because they believe they have a better opportunity to dragoon their known yes-on-taxes voters.
Speaking of which: the majority of their campaign spending so far (beyond what the District has spent directly itself on “community information) has come from $999 “donations” by their tax-exempt individual school PTAs, PTSAs, and foundations. That amount avoids a $1,000 threshold for becoming FPPC campaign committees.
Parents who’ve contributed themselves to those tax-exempt entities likely didn’t expect those campaign expenditures.
Long and short: SRVUSD doesn’t need — and doesn’t deserve — either Measure E or Measure F.” Perceptive and attentive voters will make sure to vote, and to say NO to SRVUSD’s own contribution to inflationary pressures.
There is considerable information — the facts which SRVUSD and its tax promoters misrepresent or ignore altogether — at https://www.betterschoolsnotmoretaxes.com .