Education, Careers & Professional News
Ojai School District Seeks Additional Tax
Saturday, March 05, 2005
The five-year, $150 levy on Tuesday`s ballot would help to maintain education programs. A two-thirds vote is required for passage.
Faced with chronic budget problems, Ojai`s public school leaders are asking voters to approve on Tuesday a $150-per-parcel tax to help the school district maintain programs that would otherwise be cut.
The tax would raise about $1.4 million a year and continue for five years, enough time for Ojai Unified School District administrators to come up with long-term solutions to money problems, said Supt. Timothy Baird.
Additional dollars would mean the difference between maintaining high-quality schools that offer music, art and after-school programs and a more bare-bones education, Baird said. A two-thirds vote is needed to pass the tax.
“Good schools are good for communities,” he said. “That`s the bottom line. If you have quality schools, home values improve.”
The district should instead cut operating costs to meet new fiscal realities, critics said.
“Every parcel will be levied $150 per year,” said Wendy Larner, a long-time resident and former county school board member. Opponents also said the tax would be unfair to those rural property owners whose homes are built on multiple parcels. I feel for them,” Beasley said of the district`s budget managers. Ojai`s schools have seen state funding slashed in recent years as Sacramento deals with its own budget crunch. Meanwhile, the district`s operation costs have spiralled, particularly the costs of employee health benefits and insurance, Baird said.
School leaders said the five-year tax would provide a buffer for them to come up with ways to raise new revenue or consolidate schools.
Board member Rikki Horne said the district in recent years has already made considerable cuts. School officials attribute the drop in enrolment to rapidly rising home prices, which are shutting young families out of the Ojai Valley. Ojai`s population is aging as the tight-knit, artsy community of 8,000 continues to draw older, wealthier home buyers.
Larner and other critics say the district should be looking at such things as cutting employee benefits or reducing administrative staff to save money. They predict that if the tax passes, even fewer people would move to Ojai.
“I can`t imagine anyone wanting to buy property in Ojai with taxes this high,” said Beasley, who attended Ojai schools and has two children enrolled in them.
But Baird said the district had little choice. Unlike businesses, the only way a school district can raise operating income is through a parcel tax.