Months after voters approved a $1.15 billion local bond measure to support San Jose Unified School District, the district is asking voters to sign off on millions more in funding.
The proposal — a $72 annual parcel tax — comes a few short months after voters backed the $1.15 billion bond measure, Measure R, which will cost taxpayers about $81 million annually for approximately 30 years, to provide funds to upgrade school facilities and provide employee housing. Four different housing sites are expected to provide more than 600 rental units ranging from $650 a month to $900 a month, according to the San Jose Teachers Association.
Voters also passed a statewide $10 billion bond – Proposition 2 – for similar campus improvements in November, although San Jose Unified has said the statewide bond will not be enough to fund the required renovations.
Critics of the new measure — which will appear on a May 6 special election ballot — say it’s a money grab by a district that has failed to adequately support student learning.
But the district says it’s an attempt to keep funding consistent — and that it will serve a different need than the bond measure approved last fall.
Bond measures can only be used for school buildings, technology and equipment and can’t be used for teaching and academic purposes. The district received a significant amount of funding for teaching and academic programs through the 2016 voter-approved parcel tax, Measure Y, which has provided nearly $5 million for the past eight years in annual funding to pay staff and support academic programs.
But that parcel tax is set to expire at the end of June. A May renewal measure, Measure A would renew the $72 annual parcel tax at the current rates for an additional eight years.
“Without Measure A, San Jose Unified will lose $5 million in annual funding that could lead to teacher vacancies, higher staff turnover and cuts to academic programs,” said Renata Sanchez, president of the San Jose Teachers Association in the primary argument in favor of the measure. “Every penny from Measure A benefits neighborhood schools.”
Sanchez said in a statement Monday that funds from the parcel tax have been used to extend school library hours and purchase class materials so that teachers don’t need to pay out of their own pockets. Sanchez said a significant portion of the parcel tax funds are also used for teacher retention, usually a $1,000 pay increase per employee.
Earlier this month, the district’s teachers association kicked off a campaign for better wages and conditions in partnership with more than 30 other school districts across the state. California teachers’ salaries are determined by experience and education level and San Jose Unified’s teacher salaries range from $70,000 to over $120,000. According to the state, the average salary of a California public school teacher for the 2021-22 school year was $88,508 and $95,160 for the 2022-23 school year – the highest in the nation.
But according to the district, “San Jose Unified is funded at lower levels than other school districts in California with whom we compete for high-quality teachers and educational staff. The parcel tax provides approximately $5 million in locally controlled funding to help attract and retain highly-qualified teachers and educational staff.”
San José Unified receives a small portion of state funds, with the majority of its funding from property tax revenue, which changes every year as local property tax revenues and enrollments fluctuate.
An independent citizens’ oversight committee and annual audits ensure parcel tax funds are spent as promised, San Jose Unified said.
But some voters are skeptical about coughing up more cash so soon.
“Hold on to your wallet, here they come again,” said Mark Hinkle, president of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association in the primary argument opposed to the measure. “Just last November, San Jose Unified School District raised our taxes for a bond-debt measure of over $1 billion. This tax hasn’t even appeared on our property tax bills yet and SJUSD already wants more of our money.”
Hinkle argued that students’ literacy standards and declining test scores prove that the district’s parcel tax failed to accomplish its original purpose – supporting core academic programs.
Students across the state have struggled to recoup pandemic learning loss and 2024 state test scores revealed that only about half of the students in San Jose Unified met or exceeded grade-level standards in English, compared to 40.9% in math – slightly above the state’s average but still trailing the district’s pre-pandemic scores.
“If you give money to a school district and what they produce is worse, that’s kind of rewarding failure,” Hinkle said in a phone interview Monday. “Adding more money…is definitely not going to fix the problem.”
Hinkle also pointed out a June civil grand jury report, which identified several areas of concern at the district and said the district’s failing leadership threatened students’ safety and led San Jose Unified “adrift.”
Homeowners aged 65 and over and low-income homeowners with disabilities would be eligible for an optional exemption from the parcel tax cost but must apply, although those who are currently exempt would not have to reapply.
A lawsuit filed earlier this month challenges the ballot measure and argues the ballot measure’s wording is “inherently prejudicial” in favor of the parcel tax as well as misleading. The petition demands the ballot measure be reworded prior to the May election.