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Published March 18th, 2020
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Voters prioritize schools; further cuts avoided with success of Measure L
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| By Pippa Fisher |
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| Photo Pippa Fisher |
No one was more pleased to cancel the March 4 school governing board meeting than the board members themselves. This was the meeting at which they were to have discussed cuts to school spending if Measure L - the parcel tax to secure additional funding for all district TK to eighth grade schools - had failed. It didn't. Voters showed their support of the measure, which got over the two-thirds majority the measure needed to pass.
The seven-year, $290 per year parcel tax is needed, according to campaign organizers, to attract and retain high quality teachers, and to prevent deep cuts to math, science, reading, language arts, engineering, technology and robotics programs as well as to maintain manageable class sizes, keep facilities safe, clean and well maintained, and to preserve the high quality programs currently offered in music, visual and performing arts.
Lafayette School District governing board President Meredith Meade is grateful to the voters of Lafayette. Recognizing the hard work of the Yes on L campaign co-chairs Tom Mulvaney and Danielle Gallagher and their support team, she says that since Dec. 3, when the Lafayette School District governing board voted to go forward with a parcel tax, these citizens and many other community volunteers worked tirelessly to inform and educate residents about this measure.
"Due to the state of California's Local Control Funding Formula, our District is dependent on the support of our community to help bridge the funding gap and maintain schools that are consistently ranked among the top in our state," says Meade, adding, "The board will continue to keep a sharp eye on our budgets and funding sources, but thankfully the urgent need to make cuts has subsided. In fact, we are hopeful that we will be able to reinstate some programs that we have had to cut the past few years, and institute some new ones based on our students' current needs."
Gallagher echoes Meade's thanks to the community volunteers who worked so hard on the Yes on Measure L campaign. "Their efforts exemplify why Lafayette is such a great place to live, work and raise our children," she says. |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA