School Parcel Tax Supporters Hope the Grassroots Approach Pays Dividends at the Ballot Box

On Nov. 2, Benicia voters will once again decide the fate of a parcel tax to support local schools.

Two past parcel tax campaigns failed to convince enough voters that the schools need more money. In 2004, a $105 parcel tax came up just short of the two-thirds margin needed to pass, and two years later Benicia voters nixed a $254 parcel tax by a wider margin.

Supporters of Measure C are counting on two things to help them get this assessment passed: The first is the amount taxpayers will have to pay – $58 per parcel.  The second is voters' knowledge of cuts to school funding.

Benicia Unified School District paid a consultant to find a tax that would pass muster with voters.  The polling showed that slightly more than two-thirds of voters would support a $58 tax. Polling for both previous measures showed they wouldn't pass at the levels the district ultimately put before the voters.

"We've lowered the amount of the assessment from previous years, and people have an increased awareness of cuts to education spending  in the (state) Legislature," said Joey Baker, a member of Support Benicia Schools, the group running the pro-Measure C campaign. "We're hopeful that these two things taken together are enough to convince people to vote for the children." 

Measure C is not facing any formal opposition. The local Tea Party has indicated it is not taking a position, and no one wrote a ballot argument against the measure.

The proponents are planning to run a grassroots campaign that depends more on direct voter contact than direct mail. "The primary means of communication is the precinct parties," Baker said.  Precinct parties are gatherings held in private homes where the homeowner invites friends and neighbors and educates them about a ballot measure or candidate. 

The campaign doesn't want to tap small businesses that are already supporting the Benicia Education Foundation, a group committed to funding librarians and computer labs in schools. "That's why we are asking the major corporations in town to donate to the campaign," Baker said.

While Support Benicia Schools doesn't have enough money in its treasury to mount a direct mail campaign, it will do a limited mailing if the money becomes available, she said.

Measure C enjoys the support of every elected official in Benicia except school board member Dana Dean, a lawyer who said she had to abstain from the vote to put the tax on the ballot because of a conflict of interest. Dean did not specify the conflict.

Supporters of Measure C are hoping recent trends in parcel tax elections around California hold true for Benicia.  A study done by EdSource, a nonprofit and impartial source of information on California education,  shows that between 2001 and June 2009 of the 132 school parcel tax campaigns run in California, 83 or 63 percent passed. Over the past 2 years California voters have approved 72 percent of school parcel taxes put before them.