By Editorial

On Tuesday, voters will be asked to shell out an additional $333 a year not to better, but just to maintain the quality of educational programs in the Los Altos School District.

The proposed increase is a whopper, no question about it. It raises the tax from its current $264 annual rate to $597. There’s no more equating this increase to a pizza party for four - this is more like dinner at Masa’s.

Still, should residents really expect less from Los Altos, one of the most affluent communities on the planet? We paid more to live here because of factors like the school district, rated No. 1 four years straight in overall test scores. Virtually everything here costs more than surrounding areas - we even pay more for Girl Scout cookies. Should it be any surprise that No. 1 schools also cost more?

We support the proposed parcel tax increase as a simple outcome of the cost of living here. We don’t like paying 126 percent more, but the state and its budget deficit has left us in this position. So we choose to either accept lesser schools - and therefore, a lesser standard of living - or we pay to keep our high-quality schools the way they are.

Of course, a fair question is whether the large hike is justified. From a financial and pragmatic perspective, it is. If district officials really wanted to snow us, we think the answers to our questions would be far more evasive. But the district has offered reasonable answers to every skeptical query we could muster. We believe the district’s numbers compute.

The district last year trimmed 10 percent of its budget and faced a $3 million hole. One-time cash flows from supportive parental groups kept the district afloat. But as the state’s financial picture suffered further, so did the district’s. With California’s $7 billion deficit, the hopes of getting more from the state is slim. Another $3 million deficit looms this year for the district. So dismal is its state budget share that the parcel tax hike merely helps the district tread water - still minus the 10 percent cut from last year.

Meager funds from the state has been an ongoing problem for the district since 1972, when state leaders decided to equalize school districts by spreading the money around. But they gave to districts based on property tax revenues and Los Altos - with its lack of sidewalks and focus on threadbare city services - went to the back of the line for funding support.

Sobering as it is, we must fight to keep what we have next Tuesday and keep our schools as great as they are. Vote yes on Measure A.