County tax falls short County tax falls short (July 09, 2004)

Legislature turns down $77-million education measure

By Julie O'Shea

An unprecedented education tax that would have funneled $77 million into Santa Clara County schools failed to gain enough support in the state Legislature last week, dashing all hopes for passage in the November election.

The proposed tax would have generated about $5 million for Mountain View and Los Altos schools to share. Additionally, the school districts would have kept 90 percent of all money raised within their boundaries. And the county's 13,000 teachers would have seen $2,000 bonuses.

But the measure -- paid for by a yearly $195 tax on all properties in the county -- was something new for California, and state lawmakers were asked to push an emergency initiative forward to make such a tax legal.

It needed a two-thirds vote from both the Assembly and Senate. Supporters said the initiative failed by two votes when it got to the Assembly floor July 1. The goal now is to try and bring the tax to the polls by 2006, giving supporters two years to work out any kinks.

"We didn't want to push it if we didn't have the votes," said Dennis Cima, the director of education for the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, the firm driving the tax campaign.

"We are disappointed, certainly. We are just going to have to try again," he vowed.

The news delighted Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the state's largest anti-tax group which adamantly opposed the Santa Clara County education tax.

Calling it inequitable and unfair to homeowners on fixed incomes, Coupal said he was alarmed that such a tax was being pushed by big business. If commercial interests are worried about the state of education, Coupal challenged, then "they should open their checkbooks and write (schools) a check."

The problem isn't that there is a lack of school funding, but that the money isn't being spent properly, he added.

School advocates disagreed. Responding to county schools' low literacy rate and the need to attract and retain qualified teachers, county Superintendent Colleen Wilcox formed a Blue Ribbon Task Force last year to explore how local communities can improve education.

"I thought it was a very innovative way to fund education," Mountain View-Whisman Superintendent Jim Negri said. "Let's give Santa Clara County a chance to vote on it.

"Education can always use additional funding."

An opinion survey of 500 registered voters released in May showed a 71-percent approval rate for the proposed tax. Cima said his group is determined to bring the issue back to the Legislature in January 2005, where it will only need a majority vote to pass since it will be heard during its regular session. If it passes that hurdle, he speculates the countywide tax could go on the November 2006 ballot.

"There is a lot of time between now and then," Cima said. "We don't want this to die."

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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