Springtime, when a school board’s fancies turn to … parcel taxes.
Acalanes Union High School District (AUHSD) is facing $2 million in budget cuts from its $104 million budget in the current fiscal year, following the $2.2 million reductions implemented last year.
The $93 million in Measure E bond funds passed in 2008 to pay for classroom technology upgrades, repairs and expansions to school facilities and upgrades to electrical and energy management systems will run out of money this summer.
All that makes last May’s failed parcel tax effort loom larger than ever. The question the district board is asking now is, should they try again?
The issue is complicated by the fact that so many local districts are going after the same wallets this year.
The Lafayette school district (where a sizable portion of Acalanes district voters live) will ask voters to increase Measure L, a seven-year, $290 parcel tax passed in 2020, to a $585 parcel tax in June. That comes with a 3% annual increase.
Moraga schools (another area where Acalanes’ voters reside) are going to ask for a $295 annual parcel on the same ballot. The Walnut Creek School District (which also overlaps with the Acalanes district) has committed to a new $98 parcel tax measure for May. Within the Acalanes constituent area, only the Orinda School District will not pursue a new tax now, according to Superintendent Aida Glimme.
Despite all the potential headwinds, AUHSD is facing a daunting budgetary challenge that makes it all but certain they will try again.
“The AUHSD Board last discussed the issue at their Feb. 4 board meeting,” said Superintendent John Nickerson. “All five board members held an interest to go back out to the community in November 2026. The board expressed their interest to avoid another round of deep cuts in the spring of 2027. They will engage with and monitor the general community, note the results of the school parcel tax initiatives in Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Moraga, and likely poll the community in mid-summer.”
At the March 4 Acalanes Union High School District board meeting, Nickerson and his leadership team emphasized how damaging the next round of budget cuts will be for both students and staff.
With employee salaries and benefits representing well over 80% of its budget, there is no way to avoid staff reductions.
A proposed $2 million in budget cuts for 2026-27 will slash nine full-time certificated (classroom) positions, cut the library staff, leaving just one main librarian to oversee all district library services’ shrink management staff by 36%, and close the highly regarded Summer Institute program, which has been a fixture for over two decades.
Other cuts include funding for professional development and technical and facilities management. Counseling services cuts will raise the student/staff ratio to a level not seen in decades.
Associate Superintendent Amy McNamara said the loss of onsite librarians will be felt deeply.
“So much of the librarians’ work … is outside the library,” she said. “As they push into classrooms and lead lessons on research, information [and] literacy, they curate collections for special projects that classes are engaged in, and they’re bringing those resources to the classroom. And of course … they orient the students to different online databases, which aren’t always intuitive … it’s the academic programming that enriches all of our departments. That’s where it will be most acutely felt.”
With counseling staff dramatically reduced, Assistant Superintendent John Walker said the student-to-counselor ratios will rise above 350 to 1, making it impossible for counselors to spend one-on-one time with students.
“We have systems. We have technology. But nothing can replace that personal counseling time,” Walker said.
“This is a reduction in service. . .we will not have the same level of service available to our staff and to our students,” Nickerson told board members.
If a parcel tax effort for the Acalanes district is almost a foregone conclusion, successfully convincing voters to support it is not. Last year’s parcel tax measure won an overwhelming majority of votes – over 63%, but still failed to overcome the two-thirds majority hurdle set by Proposition 13.
To get approval this time, voters may need to be convinced that their choice boils down to quality schools or lower taxes.
The numbers dictate they can’t have both.
Tax exemptions for seniors put a dent into total revenue for local school districts
Seniors over 65 can apply for an exemption from parcel taxes approved by voters in both the Orinda and Acalanes school districts. These exemptions have had a significant impact on revenue.
In the 2024-25 school year, Orinda Union School District collected a total of $5,864,190 from parcel taxes. Without senior exemptions of $482,681, the district would have received $6,346,891. That’s more than a 7.6% reduction in funding available from parcel taxes approved by voters.
In the same period, the Acalanes Union High School District collected $10,638,353 from parcel taxes. Senior exemptions reduced their potential revenue by $1,833,692, the equivalent of a 14.7% reduction in funding from parcel taxes approved by voters. That amount would have been almost enough to eliminate the budget cuts planned in 2025-26.
