The James Logan Courier

By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Direct of Parent and Community Relations

For the second time in just over a year, a substantial majority of New Haven Unified voters supported a parcel tax that would have helped mitigate cuts forced on the school district because of the ongoing state budget crisis, but the measure once again fell short of the two-thirds majority necessary for passage.

Measure H, which would have raised approximately $3 million to help the District minimize cuts to the school year and increases in class sizes, received 62.3 percent of the vote, falling 939 votes short of passing. A similar effort, Measure B on the May 2011 ballot, lost by 82 votes.

"Once again, a large majority of voters voiced their support for our schools and our students," Superintendent Kari McVeigh said, "but the bar for a local parcel tax is set very high. We needed everyone who supported us to get out and vote, and that obviously didn’t happen."

Courier Staff Report

Measure H, the bond issue that would have increased local parcel taxes by $180 per year for four years, went down to defeat Tuesday.

According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, the measure got 62.29 percent of the vote, or 4453 "yes" votes. It needed 66 percent to pass. "No" votes totaled 2696, or 37.71 percent. All of the votes have been counted, according to the registrar's website.

It's the second failed attempt in as many years to raise parcel taxes to benefit the New Haven Unified School District. This year's measure. like last year's, would have raised $3 million per year for the school district.

By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations

Dr. Arlando Smith, a statewide leader in school district leadership who has worked with New Haven Unified teachers and principals for the past three years and was instrumental in the creation of the Union City Kids’ Zone, has accepted an offer to become the District’s Chief Academic Officer.

The appointment was approved Tuesday night by the Board of Education, which also approved the appointment of Nancy George, principal of the New Haven Adult School for the past eight years, as Executive Director of the Kids’ Zone. The appointments are effective July 1.