The proposed Measure A parcel tax for schools needed to get two-thirds (66.7%) Yes votes from the more than 9,000 votes cast in order to be approved, a very daunting and even unlikely scenario just a couple months ago. About 8 p.m. Tuesday night the results came in showing that Measure A got 67.61% of the votes (6,199 vs 2,979), less than a point more than needed.
That means Arcadia schools will get a much-need infusion of about $3.4 million annually beginning as early as this summer for the next five years. School district officials will decide in the coming weeks how to allocate the money — it will likely save the jobs of some teachers and could mean that furlough days that had to be imposed this year could be lifted next year, in effect restoring some of the lost wages that teachers and other district employees are enduring this year.
The passage of the parcel tax also means that property owners will see an annual $228 increase in their property tax bills, except for any residents over 65 who choose to apply for an exemption. Every penny of the parcel tax will go directly to Arcadia schools.
The margin of victory for the measure is likely to increase slightly when about 500 last-minute ballots submitted by hand to City Hall on Tuesday are counted and verified in the coming days. A much higher percentage of those ballots are expected to be ballots marked “Yes” and submitted by supporters encouraged by volunteers who spent hours on Tuesday calling voters who had previously indicated they would vote yes, but failed to mail their ballot in time. This was the first election in Arcadia’s history for which there were no polling places, although the second one has already commenced, that of the current race for City Council that slightly overlapped the parcel tax election. All Measure A ballots had to be mailed by last weekend or delivered by hand on Tuesday.
More than 33% of the more than 28,600 registered voters participated in this Measure A election, much higher than typical City Council elections, but about in line with the Measure I quarter-billion-dollar school bond election several years ago.
The extra $3.4 million will ease the pain of the increasing school budget deficit that is now about twice that level. That deficit could get much worse if Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed state tax is defeated this fall, after which he has promised more than $4 billion in additional cuts to education funding.
The Arcadia district has already made $17 million in cuts the past several years, including reducing the number of teachers, increasing class sizes, taking temporary salary cuts and cutting back on programs.
Every poll of likely voters conducted prior to the Measure A campaign showed the vote would fall a little short of approval. The campaign faced a daunting economy and the unfortunate simultaneous timing of the annual fundraising campaign by the Arcadia Educational Foundation. A volunteer committee made up of dedicated school teachers and officials, students, and many supportive local residents met weekly for the past couple months with a pair of campaign consultants to map and execute a strategy to blanket the city with mailers, signs, phone calls, and in-person pleas by dozens of supporters taking to the streets to knock on doors.
Once again, Arcadians have proven their willingness to dig in and work hard to accomplish a difficult challenge, and Arcadia voters have, yet again, shown that they can be counted on to step up to support our terrific schools.
— By Scott Hettrick