A parcel tax renewal that lowers class sizes in Berkeley schools and funds library, music and other enrichment programs is up for a vote again in March. It has passed easily every time it’s been on the ballot since 1986 and is expected to sail through again.
Berkeley Election 2024
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All of our coverage: Meet the candidates running in state Senate District 7 and for Alameda County Supervisor in District 5. And learn about Prop. 1, Measure B, and the BSEP parcel tax.
Measure H would renew a longstanding parcel tax, the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP), which pays for one of every three teachers in the school district, ensures every middle school student can learn an instrument and funds the entire library program, among other enrichment programs.
Measure H would slightly increase the tax rate of the special tax to 54 cents per square foot. For a median, 1,450-square-foot home, that’s a price tag of $782 annually to support the schools.
In 2016, voters approved a BSEP renewal measure with a tax rate of 37 cents per square foot, with cost of living adjustments built in annually. Since then, the tax rate has risen to 46 cents per square foot, and it’s expected to increase once more before the measure expires.
Very low-income seniors and people living on social security benefits because of a disability would be exempt from the tax.
The measure would bring in a whopping $44 million to the school district annually for the next eight years, just under 20% of the district’s budget. But it won’t expand BSEP — just pay for the same programs given the rising costs of teaching and learning. It will come up for renewal again in 2032.
“If BSEP were to not pass, we would possibly lose an enormous number of our teachers and our class sizes would blow up like a helium balloon,” said Nicole Chabot, a parent who chairs both the oversight committee and the committee to renew BSEP.
The money comes with rules about how it can be spent — 66% on small class sizes and expanded course offerings, 27% on libraries, music programs and technology and 7% on counseling, family engagement and academic support. The spending is overseen by a committee that meets twice a month.
Designed to combat cuts to public education, BSEP was conceived in the wake of Proposition 13, which capped property tax increases and left school budgets gutted. Today, California still ranks 33rd in per pupil spending, just below Louisiana. Neighboring cities like Albany and Alameda also have their own similar schools measures to supplement state funds.
“We all believe in the school district and we want our school district to be better than what state funding is going to give us,” Chabot said.
BSEP funds significantly reduce class sizes in Berkeley, keeping the average elementary class at 23 students, rather than 34, and high school class at 28 students, rather than 34. It’s also what allows the school district to offer enrichment courses like Law and Social Justice or Asian American Literature, pays for academic tutoring and mental health counseling, and funds some technology programs.
BSEP has been extremely popular in Berkeley. It has never faced any organized opposition and the last time it was up for renewal in 2016, 89% of voters approved it, well above the two-thirds threshold needed to pass.
