Sausalito Marin City School District edges toward parcel tax pitch

The trustees voted to retain a consultant for advice on potential rates, terms and communications strategies.

The Sausalito Marin City School District is exploring the possibility of placing a parcel tax on the ballot.

Trustees voted on April 18 to retain Ann Tramutola, a consultant based in Oakland, through July 1 at a cost of $25,000. Tramutola is expected to provide advice on potential parcel tax rates and term lengths and to help the district develop “a public information and voter opinion research strategy and budget,” according to the contract.

Tramutola is also expected to help determine the optimal timing to put such a tax on the ballot.

“We’re the only school district in Marin that has no parcel tax,” said LaResha Huffman, the district superintendent.

District voters approved a $41.6 million bond measure in 2020. The money, which is being used to build a new elementary school on the Sausalito campus, can only be spent on facilities and is not available for the district’s general fund budget.

The school district is the third in Marin this year to contemplate either a new parcel tax or a bond measure.

The Ross Valley School District has hired a consultant to advise on a possible supplemental parcel tax proposal on the Nov. 5 or another ballot. The Tamalpais Union High School District is considering a retry of its Measure A bond proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot. Measure A failed to get the required 55% approval of voters in the March 5 primary election.

The parcel tax in the Sausalito Marin City School District is being considered amid a tight financial situation that predates Huffman’s arrival in July. Huffman started the position facing both the threat of a teachers’ strike over wages and a $1.4 million structural budget deficit.

The deficit, which means the district would be spending down its reserves every year to balance the budget, put the district’s budget in qualified status. Qualified status means the district is not sure if it can pay its bills.

To address the qualified status, the district approved a series of preliminary layoff notices in March. The preliminary layoffs were successful in producing a positive district budget status and in covering a new teachers contract.

Teachers, however, said they would like to see the reinstatement of two elementary school teachers who were provisionally let go in March. That might avoid the necessity of so-called “combo classes,” where two grades are combined into one class, teachers said.

Teachers who spoke at a recent board meeting said the “combo classes” are difficult to maneuver when children have emotional or behavioral issues, or when they are progressing at vastly different learning levels.

At the same time, parents and teachers are leading a push to consolidate the district’s entire transitional-kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, on one campus in Sausalito to avoid the extra costs of running two campuses.

“The TK-8 is the best option for financial reasons,” Nathan Scripps, a science teacher, said at a public forum held Monday in Marin City to discuss campus consolidation plans. “It would offer the most efficiency.”

The district has already preliminarily laid off the principal, administrative assistant, custodian and food service staffer at the Marin City campus, where the middle school operates. If the programs are consolidated on the Sausalito campus, the employees would likely not be reinstated.

The trustees are expected to make a final decision at their May 9 board meeting on the campus configuration for the fall. The state has a May 15 deadline for schools to either solidify or reverse any preliminary layoff notices issued in March.

A majority of the 75 parents, teachers and community residents at the forum were in favor of the full TK-8 school consolidation at the Sausalito campus.

“I think a unified school on one campus is best,” said parent Miguel Diaz of Sausalito. “From what I’ve heard and read, it would lead to the best educational outcomes and more resources.”

Parent Renee Maas agreed.

“Based on what the experts are saying about a small district — a district our size — one campus would be the best way to create efficiencies and to get the most for our kids,” Maas said.

The one-campus, TK-8 model at the Sausalito campus is the least expensive of four configuration options presented at Monday’s meeting. That option would cost $150,000 to hire an assistant principal or similar administrator to help principal David Finanne.

Other options, which did not earn much support at Monday’s meeting, were: a first- through eighth-grade campus in Sausalito and TK and kindergarten in Marin City at a cost of $321,207; a third- through eighth-grade campus in Sausalito and TK through second grade in Marin City for $321,207; and maintaining the current status of TK through fifth grade in Sausalito and sixth through eighth grade in Marin City for $421,332.

Construction is continuing on a new elementary school at the Sausalito campus, Jason Cave, spokesman for project managers Greystone West Co., said Monday.

He said contractors expect to finish the new classroom building in August 2025. After students are moved in and demolition is completed on an older classroom building, contractors expect to install a new athletic field within about six months, he said.