By Sara Ballenger

The educational program in the Los Altos School District could be in for some big changes.

According to the district’s Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Finance, the district needs to pass Measure H, an increase in the parcel tax, and to become a Basic Aid District to receive more funding from the state in order to maintain its current educational program with minimal cuts.

This information was presented during a committee study session with the district’s board of trustees, Oct. 7. The volunteer committee, made up of community members and leaders, has been working with the district to develop a six-year financial plan.

During the study session, the committee also presented two preliminary financial projections. At the board’s request, one scenario incorporates revenue from the passage of Measure H into its baseline, and the other model is minus any additional parcel tax revenue.

Measure H is a $333 parcel tax increase from $264 a year to $597 per parcel per year. A parcel, defined by the assessor, is considered to be the lot on which a house is built. Registered voters within the school district, which includes Los Altos and parts of Mountain View and Palo Alto, are eligible to vote on the issue.

The committee presented its scenarios with the following assumptions built in: continued funding by the Los Altos Educational Foundation; a minimal annual increase in state funding; continued class size reduction in grades K-3 and the district becoming a Basic Aid district during the 2004-05 school year.

“We are talking about assumptions and they are just that - our best guesses about what will happen in the future. And we need to remember that,” said Randy Kenyon, assistant superintendent of business services.

If Measure H passes by the needed two-thirds majority vote, it would generate approximately $4 million in revenue for the district, according to Kenyon.

The committee reported that with the passing of Measure H, the district can operate six elementary and two junior high schools. The district would also be able to keep the 2001-02 educational program in place for the next six years with a permanent adjustment of $150,000 and no parcel tax increase for six years.

If the parcel tax doesn’t pass the committee reported the district would need to make $4.2 million in cuts the next school year and maintain those cuts for the next five years in order to maintain a balanced budget plus the state-mandated 3 percent reserve.*

“If we take the district down to less than 6 elementary schools, we will still be normal within state guidelines,” said Superintendent Marge Gratiot. “Class size, versus school size- some uncomfortable trade-offs will have to be made with Measure H not passing.”

The board and the members of the committee stressed that no final decisions have been made in terms the passage or failure of Measure H.

“There has not been enough time to say if we did X, the result would be Y,” said committee member Jim Lodestro. “We can’t say what the impacts are without going through more ‘what-ifing.’”

Included in that uncertainty is exactly when the district would become a Basic Aid district, which is another central piece of the funding pie. Currently, the district is a “revenue limit” district. Property taxes collected in the district generate less than the state’s per-student limit, according to the district.

“The state set our revenue limit based on the taxing level in the district prior to 1972 and funds an annual inflationary increase,” Kenyon said.

A Basic Aid District is able to collect on a percentage of property tax revenues designated for schools, which exceed the state’s per-student limit.

“We don’t have Basic Aid targeted very well,” Kenyon said of the assumption the district will qualify as a basic aide district in 2004-05. “That assumption is one of our high risk variables.”

The board has asked the committee to continue its analysis.

In particular, the committee will be looking at what the financial impacts and possible trade-offs are of opening a seventh elementary school in order to reduce school size and what program changes could be considered to reduce expenditures by $4.2 million in case Measure H fails.

The board took no action or made no decisions during the public study session.

The committee will continue to meet, hoping to bring its final recommendations for a financial plan to the board by mid-November.