Politics & Government

Unofficial Results: Alameda's Measure A Passes

With all precincts reporting, the registrar's results show the parcel tax approved with 67.82 percent of the vote.

[Editor's Note, March 10, 3:56 p.m: The latest Alameda Patch report on the Measure A election results is . ] 

[UPDATED March 10, 10 a.m: Unofficial results for the parcel tax election are showing the proposal passing, with 67.82 percent in favor and 32.18 percent against.]

The parcel tax requires approval from two-thirds of voters.

Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We seem to have made it up the hill and gotten to the top,” said Michael Robles-Wong, chairman of Measure A campaign, Alameda SOS, just after the results were announced. He noted that there remain outstanding ballots to be counted Wednesday, but doesn’t expect those votes to change the outcome.

“This was an opportunity for the people of Alameda to really stand up for their kids and for their community, and they seem to have done that,” Robles-Wong said.

Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The initial tally of mail-in ballots released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters just after 8 p.m. Tuesday showed Measure A just below the two-thirds threshold it would need to pass. Subsequent updates added steadily to the total, and the measure ended up with nearly a two percentage-point margin.

Commenting after the first returns were released, school board member Mike McMahon, a veteran of multiple parcel tax campaigns and a student of campaign data, predicted the yes percentage would continue to rise as more votes were counted. "This is great news," he said when the school board first heard the first election returns at Tuesday night's board meeeting. 

The first batch of votes reflected the vote-by-mail ballots received before Election Day, while later batches included votes made at polling places Tuesday.

Measure A will raise about $12 million for the Alameda Unified School District. 

The chart below reflects the cumulative total for votes at the most recent time noted. 

Time posted Yes % Yes No % No 8:00 p.m.  8,015 66.44 4,048 33.56 9:25 p.m. 8,773 66.76 4,369 33.24 9:45 p.m. 10,205 67.60 4,892 32.40 9:55 p.m. 11,047 67.84 5,237 32.16 10:20 p.m. 12,861 68.43 5,934 31.57 3/10 10 a.m. 14,342 67.82 6,806 32.18

Under Measure A, all property owners in Alameda would pay 32 cents per square foot for the schools parcel tax. That levy would be capped at $7,999 per parcel and seniors can apply for an exemption.

The measure allocates parcel tax funds to particular programs in specific proportions, such as maintaining class sizes of 25 children to one teacher in grades K-3 and “attracting and retaining excellent teachers.”

AUSD officials asked voters for the parcel tax because of a three-year budget gap of more than $19 million. The district said that shortfall came because of state budget cuts and the expiration of current parcel taxes in 2012.

Passage of Measure A, the district says, would avert some drastic changes to schools over the next two years, which include closing three elementary schools and a middle school, and cutting such basic elementary school programs as music, library and physical education. Those changes, known as Plan B, would also make cuts at the high school level, such as reducing AP classes and eliminating athletics altogether.

The AUSD board has already approved those changes pending the outcome of Measure A; opponents of the parcel tax have argued that the cuts wouldn’t really happen and were meant to frighten voters.

Even with Measure A, district officials say the financial picture for education in Alameda remains challenging. The $12 million per year from Measure A parcel tax does not cover the complete budget gap, so the district will continue to make reductions in the district office and schools. These may include eliminating an elective period from middle school, reducing high school graduation requirements and reducing special education paraprofessionals.

Robles-Wong noted that schools supporters' work is not done as long as education funding in California is not secure. "We'll go on from here," he said. "There's more to deal with."


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