In addition to voting on the eventual candidates for president, U.S. senator and other offices in the November elections, Alameda city voters in the upcoming March 5 primary election will vote on Measure E, an Alameda schools parcel tax.
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If Measure E doesn’t pass, the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) will reportedly lose $24 million, amounting to 20% of its annual budget. Combining and continuing two existing parcel taxes, Measure B1 and Measure A, respectively approved by voters in 2016 and 2020, Measure E does not add any new parcel taxes. Susan Davis, the AUSD’s community affairs manager, said Measure E does not raise any extra money for the school district.
“It will simply combine the two parcel taxes into one and extend them for nine years,” she said. “The tax rate will not change, and taxes are not being increased. Property owners will continue to pay the same taxes as they currently do.”
If passed, Measure E will continue a combined total parcel tax of 58.5 cents per square foot on all Alameda buildings starting on July 1 of next year. Davis said Measure E funds would continue work begun by money raised from Measures B1 and A.
In the case of 2016’s Measure B1, that means $12 million annually would continue to go toward maintaining smaller kindergarten through third-grade class sizes, high school sports, art, music, drama and Advanced Placement courses as well as college and career counselors.
For 2020’s Measure A, the $11 million coming from it now would keep on going to “attract and retain high-quality employees by raising salaries closer to the county average,” says Davis. “Measure E will replace and renew these taxes.”
Less than 6% of the money also goes to charter schools, according to the AUSD, and like most school parcel taxes, exemptions are available for all seniors.
Measure E supporters say single-family homeowners and small businesses will pay less than big businesses. The AUSD’s Davis said this is because Measure E includes Measures B1 and A tax ceilings of $7,999 each for a combined maximum schools tax of $15,998 that any one property owner would keep paying.
“This formula was crafted to ensure that all property owners pay their fair share without any one property owner being adversely affected by an enormous tax bill,” she said. “Very large building owners that reach the cap still pay many times more than the average homeowner.”
There is no known organized opposition to Measure E, so what concerns proponents such as Meredith Hoskin, the City of Alameda Democratic Club’s president, is voter apathy. Measure E needs a two-thirds majority to pass, but if people don’t show up to the polls — as often happens in a primary election — achieving that could be a problem.
“If it doesn’t pass, that would be devastating to the school district,” Hoskin said.
To get the word out about what her group considers the importance of voting for Measure E, Hoskin said the city’s Democratic Club is spearheading “a very real, community-driven campaign effort” that means parents knocking on doors. She said if Alameda voters vote for “nothing else on their ballot” they should vote for Measure E.
Islander Gaylon Parsons, who canvased for other city parcel tax campaigns when her children were younger, said she is voting for Measure E.
“I’m a homeowner, and I don’t yet qualify for the senior exemption,” Parsons said. “I want to make sure our schools continue to receive the 20% of their budget.”
Katie Honegger, another Alameda homeowner and a former president of her school’s Parent Teacher Association with a kindergartener about to enter Otis Elementary School, said “teachers and staff may look beyond AUSD for employment, leaving a huge void” if Measure E fails.
One Alamedan who was recently undecided but leaning toward a “yes” vote on E is Sam Merritt.
“I moved here from Hayward because of the schools,” Merritt said. “My eldest at the time was in Hayward schools, and they were not doing a good job. He was having a bad time, and so we looked around at places that had good schools that were nearby and settled on Alameda.”
A renter, Merritt said the parcel tax doesn’t directly affect him but that having two kids in Alameda district schools means the measure’s passage does. He added that the Measure E tax would probably get “passed through the rent, which I imagine it already does.”
Paul Kilduff is a San Francisco-based writer who also draws cartoons. He can be reached at pkilduff350@gmail.com.