Berkeley residents cast their votes Tuesday in favor of Measure H, deciding to renew a longstanding Berkeley schools parcel tax. As expected, early results show the measure, which funds small class sizes and enrichment programs like music and library, is on track to sail through with voters.
The Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP) has passed easily every time it’s been on the ballot since 1986. The tax 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. As of late Tuesday night, 85% of voters have cast their ballots in favor of Measure H.
Measure H will 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.
Measure H
The last time BSEP was on the ballot in 2016, voters approved a tax rate of 37 cents per square foot, with cost of living adjustments built in annually. The tax rate has risen to 46 cents per square foot since, and it’s expected to increase once more before the measure expires.
It easily exceeded the two-thirds majority it needed to pass on Tuesday.
The measure will pay for just under 20% of the district’s budget for the next eight years. 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.
“It’s continuing to provide all the things that the kids come home from school talking about,” said Nicole Chabot, a Berkeley parent and co-chair of the Yes on Measure H campaign. She also oversees BSEP spending as part of a planning and oversight committee that meets twice a month.
“I’m just so overwhelmingly thankful for the voters and the taxpayers of Berkeley for supporting the schools, because the alternative is disastrous. It’s unimaginable,” Chabot said.
Two-thirds of the money will go toward small class sizes and expanded course offerings, 27% on libraries, music programs and technology and 7% on counseling, family engagement and academic support.
BSEP will keep the average elementary class at 23 students, rather than 34, and high school class at 28 students, rather than 34. It will also allows the school district to continue offering a musical instrument for each middle school student, enrichment courses like Law and Social Justice or Asian American Literature and academic tutoring and mental health counseling.
“[BSEP] will continue to fund a lot of the great work that we have been doing, like our small classrooms, which we know benefit students that are struggling the most,” said Berkeley school board president Ana Vasudeo. “Most importantly, I’m thrilled for our students — that we will continue to provide strong services for them.”
The measure was conceived in the wake of Proposition 13, which capped property tax increases and left school budgets gutted, and was designed to supplement local school funding where the state left off. It passed with 78% of the vote in 1986 and has consistently garnered the support of 75% to 89% of voters.
A committee supporting the special tax spent $42,000 this year on mailers, yard signs and other political materials. There was no organized fundraising against Measure H.
