The League for Coastside Protection has voted to endorse Measure S, the parcel tax proposal for local schools on the June 6 ballot. This is a big win for the supporters of the measure and a good indication of strong public support. The LCP has historically been at odds with the school board over the location of the middle school and the fight over that issue has been a stumbling block for past parcel taxes on the Coastside.
The LCP, an environmentally-oriented political organization the Coastside, has traditionally not taken positions on tax measures. The League cited the need for quality schools, the school board’s decision to built its new middle school at Cunha. The LCP also cited “the school district’s stated commitment to providing a busing oriented tax measure in the near future”.
Oh no….The school district gets 1/3 of the property tax dollars off of the top (the cream as it were). Every time a house is sold for more money the more money the school district gets for the property. Each year the property taxes are increased for all properties and the school district gets the benefit. The money they get has to be accounted for and budgeted. This additional measure ‘bond’ money can be spent without the usual checks and balances, that is why the district wants it so badly. What is this the 5th try? And as for the ‘school board’s decision’ about where the new middle school is to be built, this only came after 10 years of struggle by the citizens of HMB dedicated to curtail the urban sprawl that would have resulted with the development of Wavecrest in its original format. Now Wavecrest will be developed as a housing tract only after the Coastal commission says its ok.
NO ON S or should I say NO on $$$$$. Check the records yourself, the state has a site on line where you can see all the monies collected from all the sources and you will see that the amount has increased each year (no declines) to the tune of about 1-2 million a year. The ADA amounts show that too.
Please note that over 1/2 the money collected each year goes to salaries of superintendents and teachers and their benefit packages. It gets no where near the classrooms.
There is no guarantee that the bond money will get to the students either.
I still cannot get over that we have no bus service except for the fact that the slide is out. I remember the bus service was stopped after one of the first elections in which the bond issue failed, punishment, as it were, for the citizens of the district. The district was not loosing money on the buses as the children did have to pay to ride. But do realize that now and since the citizens of HMB have been paying for the police to direct traffic.
So I am disappointed that the LCP is supposedly endorsing this bond. I cannot afford to pay any more on taxes. It is not the shortfall in collections it is the unaccountability of the district to really care for its students.
Pat Chimienti
P.S. thanks for letting me vent. I am voting NO on S.