Acalanes school tax: Measure G passes with strong support

Unofficial election results show voters strongly supported an extension of a parcel tax in the Acalanes Union High School District.

With all precincts reporting, Measure G passed with 74 percent of the vote.

The measure required a two-thirds majority to pass.

Measure G asked voters in the Acalanes school district — which includes high schools in Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda and parts of Walnut Creek — to extend a $189 per year parcel tax.

The tax brings $6.7 million to the district annually, or about 12 percent of this year's general fund budget, and was set to expire in June 2011. The new parcel tax would have no sunset date.

District officials say the parcel tax is an essential source of stable revenue that they wanted to secure sooner rather than later as state funding has continued to plummet. Losing the parcel tax would be equal to losing 70 teachers, or the equivalent to one full high school.

The Acalanes district is one of the highest-performing in the state, and district officials have said extending the tax is essential to maintaining that excellence.

The measure encountered no formal opposition, although some taxpayers' groups said they were opposed to the parcel tax because it lacked a sunset date.