A day after the Hollister School District’s attempt failed at
the polls for a $96 parcel tax, some local residents are wondering
what went wrong and where the district goes next. The final results
stunned some local residents, including former teacher Elsa
Rodriguez, who was patronizing Cozy Cup on Wednesday.
”
It’s just disappointing,
”
she said.
”
The schools need the money because they are in a dire
situation.
”
A day after the Hollister School District’s attempt failed at the polls for a $96 parcel tax, some local residents are wondering what went wrong and where the district goes next.
Needing at least two-thirds of the vote to approve the tax, supporters won the majority but were overwhelmingly defeated with 51.3 percent of tallies approving Measure A and another 48.7percent against it, according to unofficial results.
An additional 219 votes still need to be counted as of Wednesday but they won’t change the results, said Joe Paul Gonzalez, the county’s head election official. A little more than 28 percent of registered voters turned in a ballot.
The final results stunned some local residents, including former teacher Elsa Rodriguez, who was patronizing Cozy Cup on Wednesday.
“It’s just disappointing,” she said. “The schools need the money because they are in a dire situation.”
Rodriguez blamed the failure of the vote on the “huge challenge” of gaining the necessary two-thirds vote and the newspapers for “sabotaging” the campaign.
“I don’t think the newspapers reported the full story and the importance of the vote for the district,” she said.
The district placed Measure A on the special election ballot with hopes of raising $1.2 million annually over a four-year period. As stated in the measure, the financially-strapped district would have to spend the funds on the designated programs facing severe cuts next year – such as those in libraries, computer labs, music and sports. The extra revenue also could have helped curtail some of the 24 layoff notices issued by the district for next school year.
And despite a majority vote, a new parcel tax requires more support than that. Rodriguez for one hoped that someone would challenge the need for a two-thirds vote.
“It needs to be challenged somehow,” she said.
But other residents such as Barbara Hernandez, who also was at Cozy Cup the day after the election, voted against it because she was worried where the money would end up.
“To me, I don’t think the money was going to help,” she said. “It was just going to be taken away from the students and used to help the budget.”
The burden of helping the students shouldn’t just be put on the landowners but “everybody,” she said.
Overall, many blamed the economy as a reason for the election’s downfall.
“I’m surprised it didn’t pass but I think the poor economy had something to do with it,” said local resident Mary Rufener while at Starbucks on Wednesday. “I think people were just shortsighted in not supporting our kids.”
Mary Chase, who was sitting next to Rufener, called the election results “selfish.”
Rufener no longer has children in the district but supported the tax to “give children the options and opportunities that we had.”
“A school without a library is a little weird,” she said, referring to the district’s cuts to librarians and libraries.
Rufener believed the supplemental programs – such as the music program, athletics and the library – are essential to a young student’s life.
“They add to the experience and make them better people,” she explained.
Chase, who is a supporter of the Save the Music Drive at the district, was surprised people didn’t support the tax and give back to the children of the community, she said.
“I’m surprised because I thought a majority of people were for it,” she said.
San Benito High School teacher Steve Escover thought the district targeted too small of a group to pay the tax, he said. A sales tax increase, instead of a targeted tax on landowners, might have been a better way to get it passed.
“It was self-destructive because its scope was too narrow,” he said.
As a teacher, Escover said everything must be done to give the right tools to young students. But there “must be a better path,” he said.
“We need to start working together to come up with a solution,” he said.
Some residents were left with confusion over the final tally because of erroneous results broadcast by the local television network KSBW, which noted how it had been approved narrowly, Gonzalez said.
“We’ve received calls all morning about the results,” he said.
Once all the votes are officially counted, and the final count is announced, the elections office will issue an invoice to the district and it must be paid within 60 days.
The elections office asked for $200,000 to be budgeted from the county’s board of supervisors, but the invoice to the district would be about half, Gonzalez said.
“It will be substantially less,” he said.
To read HSD Trustee Joe Navarro’s letter in response to the election result, go here.
