Less than a month before it's known if Pleasanton voters will approve a school parcel tax, supporters and opponents spoke out at the Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday.

A handful of residents who are against Measure E spoke about their concerns regarding how the funds will be spent, citing worries the tax would go toward salary increases and benefits.

Ballots asking voters whether they will pay $98 per parcel each year for four years to support core academic instruction were mailed April 4. The measure is expected to generate about $2 million per year. Ballots must be received (postmarks do not count) no later than 8 p.m. on May 3.

Pleasanton resident Doug Miller said he believes supporters and opponents are interested in supporting schools and making sure monies raised are not spent on pay increases. 

But Miller – an opponent of the parcel tax – said he feels “restrictions in Measure E itself makes it more likely, not less likely, that pay and benefits will increase.”

“Money can be moved from one account to another,” said Miller, whose children attended Pleasanton schools. 

 “I feel that Measure E is meant to do the right thing but has unintended consequences. So I would ask you to consider things like pay raises and benefit increases and then come back to us with money you need in a form of a tax increase at a later time,” he said. 

Reg Beer, another opponent of the measure, also expressed his worries that the tax would go toward teacher salaries. He said the district will issue $15 million in step and column raises during the term of Measure E.

Assistant Superintendent Luz Cazares countered that step and column raises total $1.5 million each year, which then is added to the base.

During a recess, Cazares explained that during the four-year period of Measure E, step and column increases would total $6 million.

Step and column raises are automatic raises certificated employees receive based on their work experience, or step, and level of professional education, noted as the column.

District officials said during the recess that not all certificated staff members receive step and column raises but did not have the number of individuals who receive those increases.

Step and column raises are separate from cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) raises that are negotiated between Pleasanton Unified and employee unions.

While employees have not received COLA raises in the last three years, step and column increases have continued to be in effect, according to Bill Faraghan, assistant superintendent of human resources.

On the opposite spectrum, Pleasanton resident Jill Miller already voted in support of the parcel tax in order for the district to have local funds available with the uncertainty about the state’s narrowing budget.

“I don’t have children in the school district but am still in support of this measure,” she said. “It’s very difficult, challenging times that the state is facing – that the nation is facing. People can disagree whether the (school) board has acted correctly. The bottom line is… it’s the children who suffer and I just think children should be at the foremost center of your minds at all times.”

Budget cuts stemming from the state also were discussed at the board meeting. 

The district is facing a $7.7 million shortfall for the 2011-12 school year. Cazares said that Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent announcement that schools might see a reduction of up to $5 billion after his May budget revise could bring budget cuts to $12 million in Pleasanton.

“I have never found anything so challenging," Cazares said. "We truly don’t know where (the state) is going to land.”  

Cazares said Pleasanton Unified built its budget for the upcoming school year with the anticipation of a $2.3 billion reduction from the state, which stemmed from Brown’s proposed budget released in January. 

For more information on Pleasanton Unified’s budget, click here. For more information on Measure E, click here.