October 22, 2004

Public education funding and its effects on the Evergreen School District

What can you do to help?

By Brenda Franca-Serpa
Special to the Times

Editor’s Note: This article is the fifth and last in a series intended to raise awareness of the primary issues facing our local Evergreen School District (ESD, and to suggest credible solutions for which the entire Evergreen community can take responsibility.

The most immediate step you can take to assist ESD is to vote “Yes” on Measure N on Nov. 2. This four-year, $94 tax per parcel focuses on four key points specific to the Evergreen community: maintaining class size reduction, keeping school libraries open with media clerks and credentialed librarians, providing a textbook for every child and maintaining the commitment to support technology in every school.

Measure N, the Evergreen specific parcel tax, will be the only tax we pay that is 100 percent committed to the local Evergreen School District. The money generated goes directly to the district’s budget; it does not benefit the state’s budget or the county budget. Measure N funds cannot be accessed by state agencies.

Measure N positively and directly impacts local children and increases our local property values because it will help maintain excellent neighborhood schools.

Anyone 65 years or older may fill out a form to be exempt from the tax, but they can still vote “Yes” for Measure N.
Measure N will help to remedy our school district’s budget issues, but it won’t solve California’s budget woes. Please do not vote “No” as a protest vote against our state government!

By voting for this parcel tax, you can effectively help bring $1.9 million to ESD per year for four years, reduce the nearly $5 million deficit to about $3.1 million dollars and maintain core elements of our children’s education.

Get involved
If you have even a couple of hours to become involved in your community, meet friendly people and have fun, please support Evergreen Citizens for Local Schools, a committee formed to aid the passage of Measure N.

This is a campaign committee formed of and by parents, local residents, business owners and community members working hard to pass Measure N. E-mail Evelyn Allen at evallen@ev1.net to volunteer your time through Nov. 2 or obtain answers to your questions. It’s not too late to help!

Forming a local education foundation
A long-term solution for the Evergreen School District is to form a local education foundation. School districts can’t ask voters to raise property taxes for schools, but interested and involved members of the community can form and raise funds for a private foundation directly benefiting the ESD.

To finance the balance of the needed reserves for 2005-06 and beyond, an education foundation, dedicated solely to raising funds district wide, would route funds directly to the ESD and benefit all students within the ESD.

An education foundation would also help maintain our high level of academic achievement, reinstate enrichment programs and commit to improving education at the local level. Besides maintaining fiscal solvency, ESD needs to be able to offer and fund high-quality, district-wide programs even through the “lean” years.

As a community, Evergreen values education and desires to maintain an excellent school system. We value the excellent service provided by the ESD and hope to improve it by reinstituting music programs, art programs and physical education.

Excellent school programs equal high test scores, which in the end, means highly valued and desired neighborhoods with higher property values.

Core leadership group
I need willing people in the Evergreen community to help me start the core group of an Evergreen Education Foundation. First, I need an attorney and/or a CPA to guide in establishing a viable nonprofit organization.

I also need credible and visible leaders in the school population. I need at least three or four prominent community members, corporate leaders, leaders of local service clubs, bankers, etc. If you are interested, please e-mail Brenda at byfs@sbcglobal.net.

Be informed, vote!
Perhaps the best action you can take is to become informed. Attend as many meetings related to your child or children’s education as you possibly can and be an advocate for excellence in public education.

Support your school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), which typically provides funds for some of the extra activities and programs that can make a good school even better.

Vote in state and local elections, because they directly and indirectly impact the education of the children in Evergreen. There are many Internet sources that can help you wade through the myriad of candidates and local issues including:

- http://www.ss.ca.gov: discover which candidates are running for office at the state level

- http://www.sccvote.org: discover which candidates are running for office at the local level and find out about local measures

- www.congress.org: find the person to contact about issues that are relevant to your national or local elected official. Simply enter your zip code and you’ll find out who your representatives are at all levels and how to contact them.

- http://www.smartvoter.org/: offers nonpartisan election information

Write California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and your local representatives in the California legislature (e-mail has less impact) and tell them how the under-funding of ESD and other Low Wealth Districts negatively impacts your child (no music programs, art programs, formal physical education programs, etc.).

Tell them you demand the full portion of equalization funding for the ESD! The governor’s address is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Capitol, First Floor, Sacramento, CA 94249.

Write (do not e-mail) Assemblyman Joe Simitian and thank him for fighting for equalization funds and ask him to please not give up the fight if he becomes state senator for District 11. Simitian is running for State Senator District 11, as he is term limiting out. Simitian can be reached at 726 Greer Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303 or by phone at (650) 289-9038, e-mail at info@joesimitian. com.

Brenda Franca-Serpa is an involved member of the Evergreen community. One of her children is a student of Laurelwood Elementary School and her other child is attending Silver Creek High School. If you have specific questions about any of these articles, e-mail her at byfs@sbcglobal.net.

All five articles of the series, as well a complete list of sources used to write the articles, can be found at www.evergreentimes.com.

Quick facts about ESD and public school funding

ESD has only passed bond elections. Measure N is the first parcel tax for the district.

- The children of the ESD are negatively impacted by an initial Base Revenue Limit set in 1972-73. To base a budget for student education in 2004, with under- funded COLAs (stipends for inflation) and unreliable equalization money—on what was sensible to spend in 1972-73—is illogical and detrimental to our children.

- Our school district does not take in enough revenue from local property taxes and so the state makes up the difference. ESD is a “Low Wealth District,” not a “Basic Aid District.”

- ESD has been under-funded by millions of dollars in Total Revenue Limit Sources (~$9 million) from 1992-93 to 2002-03 compared to Statewide Average of All Elementary Districts. The databases accessed for this article are accessible to the general public and only date back to 1992-93.

- 78.7 percent of ESD’s Revenue Limit Source—about $47.5 million—comes from property taxes.

- 21.3 percent of the ESD’s Revenue Limit Source—about $12.9 million—comes from state aid.

- The ESD’s total base revenue limit for 2003-04 was $4,443.17 per student.

- The Evergreen School District has two bond measures, one passed in 1989 and the other in 1997. The revenues from the bonds may be used only to acquire sites for schools and construction and improvement. The bonds totaled $95,000,000. The bond revenues cannot be used for personnel or classroom expenses.

- At least 3,000 parcels (homes) in Evergreen have an assessed value of less than $200,000.

- 67 percent of public school funding in California comes from federal, state and county revenue sources.

- 25 percent of public school funding comes from local property taxes and the California Legislature and governor determine what portion of these funds goes to the school districts.

- 2.25 percent of public school funding in California comes from the California Lottery.

- 6 percent of public school funding in California comes from miscellaneous revenues (parcel taxes, foundation contributions, business and individual contributions, food service sales, percentage on investments).