UNION CITY — The New Haven school district’s parcel tax measure officially has failed, and as district officials decide what to do next, a parent booster group already has launched a fundraising drive to help save co-curricular activities.
The Registrar of Voters Office on Monday afternoon certified the result for Measure B, which fell just short of the required two-thirds majority, or 66.7 percent, garnering 66.4 percent of the vote.
Superintendent Kari McVeigh met with Registrar Dave Macdonald on Monday to discuss the possibility that some ballots had not been counted, but it doesn’t appear there would be enough to change the result, district spokesman Rick La Plante said.
“It looks like it’s just going to be a close loss,” he said.
Campaign Chairman Richard Valle said Tuesday afternoon that he will ask the registrar’s office for a recount, which costs $5,000. If there isn’t enough money left in the campaign account, he will pay for it himself, he said.
“Every kid counts in this town, and they’re worth every penny and every dollar,” he said.
If the result stands, though, district officials will have to decide whether to try for another tax, or to see if there’s any other way to preserve some of the programs and services on the chopping block. Ultimately, state funding rather than local parcel taxes is the answer to the district’s financial troubles, La Plante said.
“This (Measure B) was our effort to mitigate to some degree a situation that Sacramento has created,” he said.
The district faces a $10 million budget shortfall for next year, assuming that Gov. Jerry Brown’s state tax extensions don’t pass or aren’t placed on the ballot. Trustees have approved layoff notices and other cuts, including increasing class sizes to 30-to-1 in kindergarten through third grade; reducing the counseling staff, site administrators, media specialists, maintenance and technology; and eliminating the adult education program and what remains of student transportation, except for special education.
Board members also have authorized reducing the work year by five student days and four non-student days, and eliminating stipends for co-curricular and extracurricular activities.
The $180-per-parcel tax would have raised about $3 million a year, keeping K-3 class sizes at 25-to-1, restoring three student days to the work year, and maintaining extracurricular and co-curricular stipends.
Now members of the New Haven Boosters Association, founded last year to support co-curricular activities, are organizing a drive to raise $350,000 by the end of the school year as a temporary fix, Co-Chairman Michael Ritchie said.
“We’re not going to give up,” Ritchie said. “So many of us worked so hard on the campaign. But rather than wallowing in the pain, we have to redirect our energy into a solution.”
The group plans to seek donations from New Haven families and the rest of the community, and also is teaming up with James Logan High School students for a June 11 fundraising fun run and walk, the Race to Save Student Activities. Information about the event is available at www.newhavenboosters.org.
Logan students, meanwhile, are planning to walk out of class and march to the district offices at 8 a.m. Wednesday to protest the measure’s defeat. La Plante said there has been a mood of despondency around the district since the May 3 election.
McVeigh said she wanted to give the New Haven staff and community a day or two to recover from the loss before discussing next steps.
“All of the emotions we are feeling right now “… stunned shock, anger, disillusionment and even despair are natural,” she wrote Friday in an email to staff members. “But what is also natural is for our staff and community, no matter what the end results determine “… to come together, to shake off our anger and disappointment and find ways to create new opportunities and solutions to our very real problems. I am counting on all of us to become the solutions we seek.”
