In a special meeting held on Nov. 24, Union School District board members voted unanimously to place a measure on the March ballot asking voters to approve a four-year parcel tax to keep the district's schools open.

The special meeting was held just four days after a presentation of the results of a telephone survey conducted to gauge the possible outcome of a parcel-tax measure. Though the numbers did not indicate overwhelming support, some board members and parents say they were encouraged by the upward shift in the numbers when respondents were given more specific information about statewide budget cuts being responsible for the district's shortfalls and possible school closures as a result.

"In today's economy, we kind of anticipated the results," said Phil Quon, superintendent. "What surprised me was the almost 10-point increase. That was encouraging."

But the board's decision to place the measure on the ballot was made by seeing the level of commitment demonstrated by parents, Quon said.

Declining enrollment and an unrestricted deficit of $4,885,315 for the 2003­04 fiscal year put the board in the position of considering closing two or three of the district's eight elementary schools, which put Almaden Valley's Guadalupe Elementary School at risk.

The parcel tax—which will be called an education tax on the ballot—would be limited to four years at $195 each year per taxable parcel, with an opt-out exemption available for seniors.

Concerned parents throughout the district joined forces, speaking at packed public meetings and urging the board to consider the parcel tax in lieu of school closures. Parents argued that closing two or three elementary schools was not a panacea for the budget shortfalls.

"We're trying to not only save [the schools] from closing, but save them from other cuts," said Byron Henderson, parent and Save Our Neighborhood Schools committee organizer. "Schools could close and our kids could go to other schools and there could still be more cuts. We're trying to solve the problem that would be there anyway. We still have a budget problem."

Henderson said that the district has already experienced a couple of defaulted long-term leases of previously shuttered schools.

"The economic market is very different now," he says. "The market may not be there."

School closures could also adversely affect home values, committee members say.

"If closing schools has even a 1 percent impact on my home, that's a lot," says Tim Nelson, parent and Save Our Neighborhood Schools committee organizer. "The parcel tax is much less than the loss of the home value."

In the belt-tightening economy, Henderson and Nelson agree that the $195 parcel tax is a big amount.

"It works out to about 54 cents a day. HBO is about 53 cents a day," Henderson says.

The money collected from the parcel tax will remain in the district, and the language of the measure guarantees that schools will remain open.

Not all parents or district residents are convinced the parcel tax is the answer.

"I'm not sure I'm for it," says Karen Hannan, parent of a fifth-grader at Guadalupe. "I think maybe the school district could find other ways to cut their budget. I want to find out more about it before I decide."

Under restrictive time constraints of less than two weeks to conduct a nonscientific survey of residents, the committee reported that it received 300 positive responses. Of those, fully one-third were from people who did not have children in the Union school program—people such as Jack Knoll, who has no children in the district and has joined the campaign for the education tax.

"I'm not involved in the education business. I've never worked for a school district. I do not have children in the system," Knoll says. "In elementary schools, that's the foundation for which they begin their educational career, their educational life. If they get started off right, they can go ahead and become worthwhile citizens."