School parcel tax gets early support

Measure MB receives slightly more than 2/3 of the votes needed to pass after initial returns are released Tuesday night

Manhattan Beach voters appeared to be supporting a parcel tax renewal that would benefit the city's public schools, based on early returns.

The parcel tax renewal proposal, Measure MB, had nearly 67% support, with around 33% opposing it, as of 8:35 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles County registrar's office.

The first two batches of returns were composed entirely of vote-by-mail ballots received before election day or ballots cast at vote centers during the early voting period. The next several batches of returns were supposed to include in-person ballots cast at vote centers on election day.

Two-thirds of voters must vote “yes” for the measure to pass.

Measure MB, if ultimately approved, would keep intact the expiring $225 parcel tax for an additional six years, providing an estimated $2.5 million annually for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District.

Voters first approved the tax in 2018, and it has since collected $2.6 million per year.

Measure MB, if extended, would continue providing stable, reliable revenue for schools to maintain smaller class sizes, provide adequate classroom supplies, protect high quality curriculum, recruit and retain highly qualified teachers, preserve advanced STEM programs and more.

More than 6,000 students attend the district's eight schools, from preschool through the 12th grade. The district relies on the state for the majority of its funding, according to a previous district statement, but its per-student funding is among the lowest out of all school districts in California. Parcel tax funding, according to