Measure K Wins for Scotts Valley Schools

It’s been a long road, but for the supporters of Measure K it has all been worth it.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Measure K, the educational parcel tax, claimed 76 percent of voter approval. There were 4,117 votes cast out of approximately 12,500 registered Scotts Valley voters, and 3,129 were for the measure.

“It feels great. I feel like Scotts Valley has really sent a message to the schools that they want to support them and that they support the kids and the teachers,” said Scotts Valley parent Derek Timm, who started Save Our Schools Scotts Valley (SOSSV) to get the word out about the tax. “It’s keeping people’s jobs, and telling them that they are valuable and the community wants to keep them.”

The Scotts Valley Unified School District has discussed putting the tax on the ballot for nearly two years and once go-ahead was voted for in January, a grassroots campaign took off to get the word out.

Timm spearheaded the campaign efforts along with numerous members of the community, including parents, grandparents and teachers. Over the past few months, SOSSV has sent out approximately 40,000 pieces of mail, designed 10 different brochures targeting specific groups, made phone calls to hundreds of absentee voters and knocked on the door of close to 4,000 homes of registered voters in the district.

School Trustee Sue Roth said that the efforts that SOSSV put forth to help get the parcel tax on the ballot and then campaign for it was wonderful.

“I can not thank Derek enough for coming and asking questions that were very uncomfortable for our school board, and staying and listening and learning,” Roth said. “It’s incredible because when you’re at a school board meeting, normally there are zero people and sometimes you start thinking you’re operating in a vacuum. This shows that there is no vacuum and that there is a lot of concern and a lot of willingness to do something.”

Beginning July 1, Measure K will add $48 annually per parcel for three years. It will bring approximately $350,000 annually to the cash-strapped Scotts Valley school district, which could see additional state budget cuts of approximately $1 million in the fall.

Seniors and those on disability can opt out of the tax.

The money from the tax will be used to maintain current programs in the district and to prevent further layoffs and increased class sizes.

Scotts Valley parent Michele Snyder said that campaigning for the tax became a family affair for her, her husband and their four daughters, ages 15, 13, 10 and 9. The family joined in the efforts because Snyder said they see the importance of it.

“We believe very much in the public school system, my husband and I, and we want to see it succeed,” Snyder said. “We realize it’s not going to succeed with the state right now. Even if they wanted to, they don’t have the funds to give us.”

Snyder said that had the tax not passed, it would have been difficult for her to break it to her kids who have come to understand the need for the tax in their schools.

“To explain to my girls, no it didn’t pass this time, and what will happen to their favorite teacher or the drama program, well, I would [have hated] to have to explain that,” she said.