Alameda Property Tax Hike On March 2020 Ballot

ALAMEDA, CA — The Board of Education for the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) voted unanimously to put a property tax measure on the March 2020 ballot.

The parcel tax rate will be 26.5 cents per building square foot, with vacant parcels being taxed a flat rate of $299 and the total tax for any one parcel being capped at $7999., according to a release from the district. Senior citizens and people receiving SSDI can apply for an exemption from the tax.

The district will use the money to increase teacher salaries. Even with a recent pay hike, Alameda salaries are currently about 11 percent below districts in the rest of the county. As a result, the district typically loses 20 percent of teachers each year because they take higher paying jobs elsewhere.

“This makes it very difficult to sustain long-term, high-quality educational programs and find teachers for hard-to-fill subject areas, such as Special Education and Mathematics,” says Superintendent Pasquale Scuderi. “Stabilizing the teaching force will help us attract high-quality teachers and provide more continuity and depth in our educational programs.”

If Alameda voters approve the parcel tax next March, union members will receive an additional one-percent raise retroactive to January 2020, bringing the total this year to a 5-percent raise and an 8-percent increase for 2020-21.

“The Alameda Education Association voted unanimously to endorse this upcoming parcel tax for AUSD,” says AEA union President Judith Klinger. “We support it because we want Alameda’s students to continue having the best education in this amazing school system.”