Pleasanton Measure G Results
Pleasanton Measure G – The Pleasanton Parcel Tax - FAILED!
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters posted a 62% approval. For Measure G to have passed 2/3 of voters needed to be in favor. Measure G would have generated over $4 million a year from the $233 parcel tax. Instead the district will meet Wednesday at 6:30 to discuss what cuts will be made. Class sizes will go up, counseling, reading and math programs will be cut as well.
Was this the right decision for Pleasanton children, parents and staff? Did the district fail to prepare for budget cuts?
June 4th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Too bad for Pleasanton schools, teachers and the kids. $233 is not a large amount of money. School scores will suffer and so will API scores then people comparing scores to San Ramon, Danville, Dublin will see Pleasanton sliding, buy a house there and then home values go down all because people wanted to save $1,000!
June 5th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
This is a sad day for Pleasanton. I can’t believe some of the ignorant comments on the other news article regarding Measure G. I’m not sure if people realize how little teachers get paid, and if they do, and still voted no, they are short-sighted people with no sense of long-term economic growth. The only ways to create long-term economic growth are to build infrastructure and increase education, and by refusing this relatively small tax, people are prolonging recession.
In addition, as Pleasanton loses its amazing teachers, the schools get worse, and property values drop. Really, if all you think about is your bank account, you should have voted for Measure G, because schools are the main reason Pleasanton’s property values are higher than those nearby, and if the schools suffer so will property values.
As a recent graduate from Amador, I have to say that I owe any success I have achieved in higher education to Pleasanton schools. After going through Amador, Berkeley almost feels easy in comparison, despite the fact that I am in the toughest major at the school. If Pleasanton wants to keep sending out talented individuals to top schools, it needs to maintain its level of academic excellence, otherwise students will find themselves lost as competition for fewer seats at top schools gets worse and worse.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:41 am
I understand the previous comments…I am a product of the Pleasanton school district myself and feel I got a great education. I do think there is a larger issue at hand from how I understanding Measure G.
On the surface, we all want to pay teachers better and we all support smaller classrooms and better education for kids. The greater issue arises from the utter loss of financial responsibility at the city, state, and federal levels. It has long been the policy of California to just ignore budget deficits and move forward with programs that aren’t truly funded. Now, upon the impending bankruptcy of our state, we see that we can’t get away with it anymore.
A budget is created for a reason and by ignoring it for emotional reasons is careless, at best. If we want to support our teachers and schools (I certainly do), we need to make the appropriate cuts elsewhere.
It’s high time we focus on fiscal responsibility and common sense. Hopefully the impending cuts will make room for properly funding our schools and will encourage our citizens to really take a look at what programs we value the most.