Last year the people of San Jose approved a bond for the failed, declining enrollment school district. That was not enough, now they want a parcel tax. Even the Progressives and liberals in San Jose have had enough. The parcel tax is being defeated.
“A bid by the San Jose Unified School District to renew its $72 parcel tax appears headed for rejection, as a small turnout of district voters failed to reach the required two-thirds majority in mail ballots counted Tuesday.
Billed by the district – the largest of city’s 19 school districts – as a proposal to renew “locally controlled parcel tax funding for student success, the parcel tax, called Measure A, drew the support of 60% of the voters in the mail-ballot-only election, according to the Santa County Registrar of Voters.
Mail-in ballots postmarked Tuesday are still being accepted and counted, until May 13.
San José Unified voters had approved a $72 parcel tax, which provides approximately $5 million a year, in 2016. The tax expires June 30.”
My guess is that in 2026, the failed district will again lie and beg for a renewed parcel tax. We will see if the people of San Jose have had enough.
Parcel Tax Renewal for San Jose Unified School District Falling Short of Approval
By Barry Holtzclaw, San Jose Inside, 5/7/25 https://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/parcel-tax-renewal-for-san-jose-unified-school-district-falling-short-of-approval/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Two%20Officers%20Stabbed&utm_campaign=SJI%20Newsletter%20-%20050825
A bid by the San Jose Unified School District to renew its $72 parcel tax appears headed for rejection, as a small turnout of district voters failed to reach the required two-thirds majority in mail ballots counted Tuesday.
Billed by the district – the largest of city’s 19 school districts – as a proposal to renew “locally controlled parcel tax funding for student success, the parcel tax, called Measure A, drew the support of 60% of the voters in the mail-ballot-only election, according to the Santa County Registrar of Voters.
Mail-in ballots postmarked Tuesday are still being accepted and counted, until May 13.
San José Unified voters had approved a $72 parcel tax, which provides approximately $5 million a year, in 2016. The tax expires June 30.
The district said the parcel tax renewal was necessary to:
- Maintain and improve core academic programming in reading, writing, math, the arts and science
- Improve programs to prepare students for college and careers
- Attract and retain high performing teachers and educational staff
The elections office reported at 5pm March 6 that the parcel tax renewal was approved by 13,940 voters – 60% – and rejected by 9,286 voters – 40%, more than 1,500 votes short of the two-thirds majority required for approval.
Just over 15% of the district’s 153,317 registered voters sent in mail ballots that had been counted by May 6, the county reported.
The parcel tax was supported by majorities in downtown San Jose, but opposition in a dozen precincts in South San Jose ensured its defeat, according to Monday’s report by elections officials.
The district said on its website that no money raised by the tax could be used for administrators’ salaries or pensions, and that homeowners age 65 and over and low-income homeowners with disabilities would continue to be eligible for exemption from the parcel tax.
San José Unified voters last year approved Measure R, a school facilities improvement bond measure, for school buildings, technology and equipment. Funds from that bond cannot be used for teaching and academic purposes.
San José Unified School District is a TK-12 unified school district that covers a large portion of the city of San Jose. The district has approximately 25,000 students in 41 schools from downtown San Jose in the north to the Almaden Valley in the south.
