The school board Thursday night voted unanimously to fund a poll and feasibility study looking into whether or not voters would support a parcel tax for the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District — an ambitious move considering a similar measure failed by 26 votes just seven years ago.

Total preliminary cost is $33,000 to pay a political consultant — TBWB Strategies, a San Francisco-based private firm that ran the successful parcel tax campaign in both Petaluma and Novato.

"Why are we talking about this?" said Superintendent Robert Haley. "Well, we’ve had consecutive years of budget cuts — it’s impacted our teachers, it’s impacted our students, and we just don’t have more paper that we can cut. We need to protect our local schools.”

The district over the last five years has faced unprecedented cuts. Three schools have been shuttered — Mountain Shadows Middle School, Gold Ridge Elementary and La Fiesta. Class sizes are at an all-time high, and teachers have taken significant cuts to salaries and benefits. Meanwhile, the district has experienced the most precipitous fall in student enrollment countywide. Ten years ago 8,300 students attended classes here. Today, enrollment is a bleak 5,913, and students are continuing to leave. 

Since Haley came on board last May however, the district has made strides to solve the budget crisis locally. One move includes the possible re-opening of La Fiesta, part of a school reconfuguration proposed last month. Now, the parcel tax is expected to combat what officials called "unpredictable cuts" by the state.

The governor is projecting a $370 per-student cut for ADA, or average daily attendance. That would reduce the current ADA to $5,347 per student from the current $5,717 — or approximately $2 million annually, based on enrollment. 

"We keep looking to Sacramento, but you can't count on Sacramento anymore," Haley said. "School districts are going to have to find a way to insulate themselves locally. We need the ability here to weather state budget cuts."

He added, "we can either sit and wait and hope, or we can do something here and take matters into our own hands." 

Board President Ed Gilardi echoed Haley.

"Sacramento has had years to fix the state’s ongoing budget crisis and adequately fund local schools, yet no credible solutions have emerged," Gilardi said. "Our choices are either to continue and sit and wait for Sacramento to fix the problem, or take matters into our own hands to stabilize funding for our own schools. The board unanimously chose to act because we have students in our schools now that need the support of the community. We can't wait."

What is a parcel tax?

A parcel tax, or a tax levied on local property owners, is generally a flate rate fee based on acreage or square footage of land. Typically, it sunsets after five or six years, however it can be permanent. Money raised can pay for anything — from infrastructure upkeep, to teacher salaries, to special programs such as funding yearlong classes, a special science and technology curriculum and arts and music programs — which are all being considered in the school reconfiguration.

"There are no limits on a parcel tax, as long as they are spent for the programs described in the parcel tax measure before the voters," officials said.

A supermajority vote is required, in this case 2/3. No signatures are required to get the measure on the ballot, it just needs a majority vote of the Board of Trustees.

A similar measure was undertaken in 2005, called the "Quality Public Education Preservation Act of 2005." It focused on four key areas: 

• Attracting and retaining quality teachers and staff. 
• Enhancing literacy and reading instruction. 
• Improving science and math programs. 
• Maintaining library services. 

The mesaure fell just 26 votes short of passing, gaining 66.40 percent of the vote, when 66.70 was needed.

Taking the Community's Temperature

The board agreed that "before we ask the community to undertake such an effort and incur the cost of an election, we must make sure that we have a reasonable chance for success." 

Between now and March 7, the district and campaign organizers will be studying the liklihood of whether or not something like this could pass here. That includes working with both the Rohnert Park and Cotati City Councils, community polling and talking to local stakeholders. 

"We need to find out what’s going on in the community, what’s going on in the school district, what would they support and at what level," Haley said. "That requires some investment from the school district to do that study."

Funding the Parcel Tax 

In addition to the $33,000 approved Thursday to pay the political consultant, other money will be required to pay for the campaign itself, should polling go well.

An estimated $50,000 to $60,000 will be needed for a campaign committee, funds that can't come from the district's budget. In 2005, PTAs and other community groups raised $33,000 for the campaign, said Shari Lorenz and Debbie Ziese, who were active in the first parcel tax measure.

An additional $15,349 will be needed, say district officials, for campaign literature in the form of informational brochures, and between $37,000 and $74,000 to get the measure put on the ballot (based on between $1.50 and $3 per voter).

"The mailing to voters would explain the parcel tax, but not advocate for it," Anne Barron, the district's Chief Business Official. "This is a critical distinction because district funds can't be used for advocacy."

Barron added that Sonoma County's Registrar of Voters will not charge for mail-in ballots, which she said could save up to $20,000.

Who's Voting Here, Who's Paying?

According to Barron, there are a total of 15,715 parcels in Rohnert Park and Cotati, made up of residential, commerical and government offices that would pay the parcel tax. About 300 government properties are exempt, and the measure could also impose a senior exemption, so the elderly wouldn't have to pay.

The tax could range from $50 per parcel, which would generate $770,350 for the district, or $300 per parcel, netting $4.6 million annually. See the chart on the right for other revenue comparisons. Note: the estimates assume that there are no other exemptions for property owners.

All registered voters — 24,000 here — would be able to cast their vote. However, officials said, not everyone votes. Approximately 60 percent of voters here also permanent absentee voters.

District officials said a June election has more steam considering there are a slew of tax measures on set for the November 2012 ballot, including Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax increases.

Mayor Jake Mackenzie gave some insight at Thursday's meeting into what it's like getting a majority vote for a tax increase. He referenced Measure E, the five-year half-cent sales tax that Rohert Park voters approved in 2010, estimated to raise between $2.4 and $2.8 million a year.

Officials said polling is key, as is grassroots campaiging — pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, speaking to community groups, mailers.

"Polling prior to the measure guided us directly to what we put on the ballot," Mackenzie said. "And the numbers matched up."

Haley said following polling, board will decide on March 7 on whether or not to move forward.

"We need to know what voters would support," Haley said.