| California's underperforming schools suffer from a school finance system that gives local administrator's little discretion in how to raise and allocate funds. One source of discretionary revenue in the post-Proposition 13 environment is the parcel tax---a form of property tax that is unrelated to property values. The school district parcel tax referendum has not, however, been widely used even though most such measures placed on the ballot have passed with the required two-thirds supermajority. This study describes the characteristics of districts that place parcel taxes on the ballot and that account for the election outcomes. It also provides information to school district officials interested in assessing the likelihood of a successful parcel tax measure in their district and to policymakers considering the likely effect of a reduction in the threshold for passage to 55%.;Taking into account a variety of demographic and structural factors, this study found that districts that proposed parcel tax measures were larger and had larger schools, were more urbanized, and had more affluent and highly-educated populations than those that did not. Parcel tax measures were largely concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area. Support for these measures was strongly associated with the percent of the population with a college education and less strongly but still significantly associated with the percent of the population below the poverty level, the elderly percent of the population, the American Indian percent of the population, the unemployment rate, location in a small town, location in the Bay Area, and average school size. However, a number of factors often implicated as important by theories that seek to explain electoral behavior based on the self-interest of voters did not prove to be significant in this study. While the school district parcel tax does not have a great deal of untapped potential with the current two-thirds majority requirement, it would have tremendous potential to provide additional school funding if the approval level were to be reduced to 55%. Many of the largest school districts in California would be likely to be able to pass parcel taxes given a 55% requirement. |
