Editorial: Tam District must dig in on why voters rejected bond proposal

Measure A got a 53.7% majority, but what happened to the survey-based projections that voter support would surpass the needed threshold?

The Tamalpais Union High School District is in a political pickle.

Even though a majority of the district’s voters in last month’s election endorsed its proposed $517 million capital bond, that tally fell short of the 55% majority needed for passage.

Now, district officials need to regroup and decide whether to pursue approval of another bond proposal and when that proposal should be on the ballot.

Trustees were told at a recent meeting that the low voter turnout and a blistering opposition campaign led to Measure A’s loss.

That’s the district consultant’s view of the results.

Measure A got a 53.7% majority, but what happened to the survey-based projections that voter support would surpass the needed threshold?

Where did that go? Did the consultants poll the wrong voters? Did the wrong voters show up in the March 5 vote?

District trustees need to figure that out in regrouping behind another bond measure.

Certainly, the campaign mounted by COST – Marin’s Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers – persuaded some voters to reject the measure. Some of its assertions stretched the truth, but that’s nothing new in politics. COST played hardball and the Measure A campaign failed to effectively respond.

COST managed to give voters reason enough to vote no – from focusing on the ultimate cost of the 30-year bond measure – more than $1 billion, on the cost of building a “gold-plated cafeteria” at Redwood High School and that elderly property owners could not apply to be exempted from the tax.

State law forbids senior exemptions from local bond measures. The district, even if it wanted, couldn’t exempt seniors – a large part of the district’s residents – from the bond’s tax. In addition, Redwood’s building plan was a lot more than a cafeteria; the building would have replaced a number of aging portable classrooms, among them the music room, and provided space for student services.

COST’s messaging worked to help sink the proposal. Now, it has the opportunity to be part of the solution, possibly playing a constructive role in determining the scope and cost of a follow-up measure.

The district also needs to address the lack of support Measure A got from Ross Valley voters. For instance, Measure A didn’t even get a simple majority from San Anselmo voters, who made up nearly 12% of the vote. In Fairfax, Measure A won only 47.6% of the vote. Together, with San Anselmo voters, they represented 19% of the voters who cast ballots in the March 5 election.

Measure A won majorities in other parts of the district.

Measure A’s poor showing in Fairfax and San Anselmo may be the result of complaints that not much of the bond was going to be spent on the Archie Williams High School campus in San Anselmo, compared to those budgeted for Redwood in Larkspur and Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley.

There is also a level of lingering resentment over the school board’s decision to rename its San Anselmo campus, from Sir Francis Drake High School to Archie Williams. The new namesake was a longtime Drake teacher, gold-winning sprinter in the 1936 Olympics and a Black air force pilot and instructor during World War II.

District leaders also shouldn’t discount the amount of school taxes – elementary, high school and the College of Marin – local taxpayers are already paying. Even though local home values benefit from having top-quality schools, the authors of the next measure need to recognize that the length and cost of local taxes and fees on tax bills may be getting to a point where it’s costing them voter support.

Other districts need to consider that political possibility.

$517 million was a big ask. Still, a 53.7% majority was narrowly shy of passage.

That support is good reason to regroup and consider possible alternatives, maybe scaling back some of the projects and the cost of the bond. And – maybe – they could come up with a proposal that even COST could support.