Superintendent in Oak Park says parcel tax is justified





By Lori Porter
Acorn Staff Writer

With expenditures exceeding revenues by $1.1 million, Oak Park Unified School District board members looked closely at the budget before they voted last week to place a parcel tax measure on the March election ballot. The parcel tax of $197 per year would expire in five years. It requires a two-thirds majority to pass.


Unlike some other districts, OPUSD doesn’t expect enrollment to grow. State money is doled out according to Average Daily Attendance (ADA). Many districts stand to gain revenue because the ADA will consistently grow. The community of Oak Park, however, expects neither new housing nor significant jumps in enrollment.


Oak Park is nearing build-out.


Although many Californians assume that their property tax dollars go to their respective school districts, that assumption is false. In the 1971 case of Serrano vs. Priest, a litigant argued that per-pupil spending was unfairly high in wealthier communities and low in poor areas. This violated the equal protection clause of the California Constitution, the litigant contended. The state Supreme Court agreed, thus requiring all local property taxes to be equally distributed among public schools throughout the state.


There are other reasons that trustees in Oak Park want a parcel tax.


In an October poll, residents responded to questions about a potential parcel tax. Results showed that $115 per parcel would pass. But with a deficit of $1.1 million, $115 per parcel would only generate $500,000—still leaving a deficit of $600,000––and forcing significant cutbacks, including teacher and staff layoffs, according to district officials.


"Board members all agreed that asking residents to pay a tax to benefit the school district while laying off teachers and staff would be met with a tremendous amount of criticism," said Gary Richards, superintendent of OPUSD. Teacher layoffs would mean bigger class sizes, he said.


A parcel tax of $197 would generate $950,000, leaving a small enough deficit to live with, according to board members. Acknowledging that there’s greater risk on election day because of the higher amount, Richards said he hopes homeowners will decide that $197 isn’t too much to maintain quality education in Oak Park.


Although there’s no requirement to put a sunset clause on a parcel tax, OPUSD board members decided to limit the tax to five years, believing that budget problems will be solved by then.


The poll also revealed that the No. 1 reason people buy homes in Oak Park is quality education.


Respondents said that they would be willing to pay extra to keep quality education, as long as it was temporary.


Knowing that many Oak Park homeowners are senior citizens with fixed incomes, the board also decided that the parcel tax should include an exemption for seniors.


The steering committee, Friends of Oak Park Schools, will be running the campaign for the parcel tax measure.


For more information and any questions please visit their Website at www.friendsofoakparkschools.org.



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