Reject Campbell Union High School District’s Measure L

It’s wrong for California school districts to ask voters to approve parcel tax measures that contain no sunset date. For good reason. Sunsets provide incentives for school officials to make wise use of tax dollars, knowing that if they fail to do so voters may not be so generous next time.

That should go double during a financial crisis, when voters face their own set of budget challenges.

Nevertheless, Campbell Union High School District officials included no sunset provision when they put Measure L, an $85 annual levy, on the Nov. 3 ballot. Voters should reject it and the district should come back with a measure that includes an expiration date.

Campbell Union serves about 8,000 students in five high schools: Branham, Del Mar, Leigh, Prospect and Westmont.

Superintendent Robert Bravo says that the district has an agreement with teachers’ bargaining unit that at least 20% of the expected $5 million in parcel tax revenues would go to teacher compensation. Bravo argued that the existing eightyear parcel tax, which expires in 2021, has become embedded in the district, implying that the district shouldn’t have to come back to voters again for further approval. That’s an assumption voters shouldn’t approve.

District property owners also pay $43.90 for every $100,000 of assessed valuation to cover the costs of the district’s construction bond measures. That works out to $358 a year for a home with a district average assessed value of $816,000.

Campbell Union has been reasonably prudent with taxpayer dollars. But the lack of a sunset clause gives voters ample reason to vote no on Measure L.