Dear Editor,
I read an article about the good feeling at Palo Alto School
District due to the passage of a parcel tax of $493 per parcel to
fund education and teachers salaries.
This parcel tax replaces the prior tax of $293 per parcel in
Palo Alto.
Dear Editor,
I read an article about the good feeling at Palo Alto School District due to the passage of a parcel tax of $493 per parcel to fund education and teachers salaries.
This parcel tax replaces the prior tax of $293 per parcel in Palo Alto.
As a school board member, I often hear comments asking what we do not do that high-achieving districts do. While there are strategies we can learn from and adopt, we are avoiding the bigger issue: Money.
Simply put, the community of Palo Alto cares more about education than the community of Gilroy. The facts are obvious. Seventy three percent of voters in the community of Palo Alto voted to take on nearly $500 a year in extra taxes to fund teachers salaries and better education. Gilroy did not. No sane person I know predicts a parcel tax in Gilroy would pass – especially if it was $400 a parcel. Gilroy as a community is not united to have the best schools. Individuals are passionate about education, but as a whole community we fall far short of the likes of Palo Alto.
That’s the real difference, folks. All the harping about education doesn’t get it done. People have to step up and be part of the solution. People have to fund education beyond state mandated levels, or you cannot compete. We cannot compete. As you sow, so shall you reap.
The cheap solution is not reaping the benefits we’d like. We need to model our community effort after Palo Alto’s, or come to terms with the fact that we are not interested in that type of performance and accept that we are getting what we’ve paid for.
I challenge the community of Gilroy to pass a $350 per parcel tax in the next election to be used for teachers salaries and education improvements. Gilroy CAN be another Palo Alto if we decide as a whole community that is what we think our children deserve. Gilroy CAN have highly paid teachers and recruit the best young talent coming out of college. The children of Gilroy CAN have the best possible education because we adults banded together to assure them that it would be so.
Gilroy, are you ready to compete with the highest performing communities in California? Are YOU up to the challenge?
Dave McRae,
Gilroy Unified School District Board Member
