2010 November Parcel Tax
The enactment of a parcel tax to increase teacher salaries was an option on the 2010 November ballot that would have taxed Oakland citizens $195 annually for ten years. It would have generated $20m annually and would have been appropriated in the following manner: 80% toward OUSD teacher compensation; 15% toward Oakland Charter teacher compensation; 5% toward professional development for new teachers. A parcel tax would have transferred some of the burden of teacher salaries from the district to the taxpayers, providing a temporary boost in salary to Oakland teachers, who are some of the lowest paid in the county. Ed-data, which collaborates with the CA Department of Education to compile data on California school districts, shows that Oakland teacher average pay of $54,157/year is only 80% of the state average, $66,642. In the cities surrounding Oakland, Piedmont pays an average $71,832; Hayward pays an average $73,260; San Leandro pays an average $70,877; and Albany pays and average $60,116.
In the November ballot, Measure L was defeated, gaining support from only 65.24% of voters. This was short of the 67% margin that was needed for a 2/3 majority.
Read more about this topic: Oakland Unified School District
Famous quotes containing the words november, parcel and/or tax:
“It was always November there.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“I am a parcel of vain strivings tied
By a chance bond together,
Dangling this way and that, their links
Were made so loose and wide,
Methinks,
For milder weather.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Parents are used to being made to feel guilty about...their contribution to the population problem, the school tax burden, and declining test scores. They expect to be blamed by teachers and psychologists, if not by police. And they will be blamed by the children themselves. It is hardy a wonder, then, that they withdraw into what used to be called “permissiveness” but is really neglect.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)