Check your mail, because it is time to vote up or down on the Cupertino Union School District’s latest parcel tax initiative.
Ballots for Measure A should have arrived or should soon be arriving in the mailboxes of voters in the Cupertino Union School District attendance boundary. The measure is asking voters to extend one parcel tax and merge it with another already on the books.
The elementary and middle school district’s board of education voted in January to adopt a resolution to combine and extend the district’s Measure B and C parcel taxes for eight more years at a combined level of $250 per parcel.
Mail-in ballots for Measure A must be returned by May 6. A parcel tax requires a super-majority vote of more than two-thirds for passage.
With the district reeling from budget cuts, parcel owners in the school district boundary voted in 2009 and 2011 to support Measures B and C, each of which levy a $125-per-parcel tax. The district takes in about $8.8 million annually from both taxes.
The taxes are assessed against each parcel of taxable land in the district’s attendance boundary. A parcel is defined as any unit of land in the district that now receives a separate tax bill from the Santa Clara County Tax Collector’s Office, according to the district.
If Measure A were to fail this May, the Measure B tax would continue until its expiration on June 30, 2015, when voters could opt to renew it. Measure C is set to expire on June 30, 2017.
Both parcel taxes can only be extended with voter approval.
The district states that the combined tax will continue to fund a “variety of educational programs” such as math, science, reading, writing, art and music programs. Other uses include retaining teachers, updating technology and keeping class sizes small. The combined tax would retain its exemption for senior citizens ages 65 and older and certain disabled residents.
For more information about Measure A, visit the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters website at sccgov.org.
