Update: Measure B Officially Fails

It’s official: the New Haven Unified School District emergency funding parcel tax has failed.

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters certified the May 3 special election Monday, releasing official results shortly after 6:30 p.m. The numbers stand .

According to the Registrar of Voters Office, the mail-in measure received 7,851 (66.43 percent) "yes" votes and 3,967 (33.57 percent) "no" votes. It needed a two-thirds (66.7 percent) majority vote to pass. All votes were counted manually, said Deputy Registrar of Voters Cynthia Cornejo last week.

Alameda County Registrar Dave MacDonald agreed last Friday to in order to address concerns of the school district. According to district spokesman Rick La Plante, NHUSD Superintendent Kari McVeigh met with MacDonald Monday at noon. Among the district’s concerns was the possibility of uncounted ballots.

“Even if there was an issue, there weren’t enough ballots in question to change the outcome,” La Plante said. “We would need to find more than 80 ‘yes’ votes.”

Measure B, a $180 parcel tax, would have generated $3 million a year for the next four years to help preserve instructional time, maintain after-school activities and minimize class size increases. The district faces a budget shortfall of more than $10 million next school year. The district already trimmed its budget from $113 million to $99 million, approving and the . The James Logan High School and Alvarado and Cesar Chavez Middle Schools .  

“It’s a little too early to say what the next step is,” La Plante said. “We can’t afford to keep the picture the same next year. The state’s just not giving us the money … That’s not a New Haven problem, that’s a Sacramento problem.”

At a minimum, class sizes in K-3 classrooms will increase from 25 to 30 students, the school year will be shortened by five days and extra- and co-curricular programs will be cut as a result of Measure B not passing.

Gov. Jerry Brown is scheduled to revise his budget proposal by the end of May. “We’ll know then how much larger the classes will be and how much shorter the year will be,” La Plante said.

Recount still possible

The district noted in a press release last week that officials may seek a recount. But La Plante said Monday that it is no longer an option for the district. However, campaign manager Richard Valle continues to move forward and said he would “absolutely” push for a recount.

“We’re just too close,” Valle said. “It’d be foolish for us not to raise the money that we need to hold a recount.”

“Clearly, the vast majority would like to support education by the amount of ‘Yes’ votes we received,” Valle said. “We just want to close the loop on every open item. Then we’ll declare victory or move forward to the next step, but I will never accept defeat when it comes to kids and their education.”

Valle said a recount would cost the campaign committee less than $5,000 for the Registrar of Voters Office to administer.

A temporary fix

Students and members of the New Haven Boosters Association are already planning ahead to come up with a temporary “save” for the schools.

The Boosters are organizing a series of events and strategies to raise $350,000 by the end of the school year, according to Michael Ritchie, co-chair of the New Haven Boosters Association.

“The election showed a large number—almost 8,000—people willing to support these programs and our district teachers with their own money,” Ritchie said. “We would like to leverage the community support to still keep our otherwise canceled co-curricular programs going in a temporary, one-year solution. “

The Boosters plan to appeal to Measure B supporters and families with children enrolled in the district, asking for a suggested donation of $60, or whatever they can afford, from each of the 6,000 families the district serves. The group also plans to ask the general community of supporters for a donation of $20 to $40.

“Working together, our community can still save co-curricular programs,” Ritchie said.

In addition, the club already has its 2nd Annual “Race to Save Student Activities” 5K/10K Fun Run in the works for June 11. The run, and the Boosters club, was founded last year when extra and co-curricular programs were previously at-risk. To save the programs, the district paired the Boosters’ funds with the money saved by cutting assistant principal positions at NHUSD elementary schools, Ritchie said.

As well, students have proposed a sponsorship drive in partnership with the Boosters Association to ask friends and relatives to sponsor funds for them to participate in the “Race to Save Student Activities,” Ritchie said.

While Boosters and students search for a temporary fix, the district spokesman said the district will find a long-term solution.

“We’re a very proud district and a historically good district,” La Plante said. “We’ll figure something out and move on from here.”