Parcel Tax Measure

The San Diego Unified School District Board has placed a parcel tax measure to be placed on the November Ballot. Members of the San Diego Alliance for Arts Education are supportive of the District's efforts to provide a new revenue source for a budget in dire need of income to protect classroom sizes, teacher pay and educational programs.

Over the last three academic years, the School Board has had to eliminate $400 million from the budget and are on track to reduce it by another $130 million in 2011/2012. Admittedly the $50 million projected to be taken in annually through the proposed measure is small in comparison to the income lost each year, but the designation of the funds for non-administrative education needs and the District's need for a new revenue source that Sacramento can't touch is very important.

In the 2009/2010 academic year, the School Board placed Visual and Performing Arts education on the list of budget priorities. While other districts across the country are eliminating the arts to save money, SDUSD preserved arts education through its prioritized budgeting strategy. This is a strong message about the importance of arts education and one that we are grateful for. It is time that we support efforts to raise needed education dollars to ensure that they are able to continue to fulfill their commitment to arts education districtwide.

For complete details on the measure, please see the San Diego Unified School District website www.sandi.net.

To get involved - contact Victoria at vsaunders@cox.net