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First, let me admit that I voted against the school parcel tax because I felt that it was primarily a device to resolve a labor dispute over teachers salaries, and that most of the revenue from the parcel tax would go toward personnel costs (the school parcel tax was sold to the voters as a means of avoiding program cuts and improving our schools). I don't think that anyone can realistically draw a direct correlation between approval of the school parcel tax and improvement in the quality of our public schools in Alameda. However, now that the parcel tax is in place, it has become an important component of our public school funding in Alameda, and I support retaining it because eliminating it would likely result in a fiscal crisis.
Going forward, I think we should at least try to fix the State funding formula that results in Alameda receiving less than its fair share of money from the State to fund our schools. Alameda used to receive Federal funding due to the presence of the Naval Air Station, and we received less money from the State because of that. However, when the Navy left the Federal money disappeared and the funds from the State were never increased to make up the difference. People have told me that it would be next to impossible to fix the funding formula, but I think we should at least make a serious attempt at doing so. The current situation is entirely unfair, inequitable, and unacceptable. Also, there must be other school districts in the State who are similarly situated; we weren't the only ones who had a base closure in the 90's. Perhaps we can band together with other school districts who share the same problem and take a hard look at how we might solve this dilemma. I think we owe it to the kids who attend public schools in Alameda to at least give it a try. |