Marin election update brings mixed news for schools

A week after the primary election, a remarkable turnaround continues for one Marin County school district, while another is teetering on a financial precipice.

The latest update of the ballot count on Monday afternoon showed the Measure H parcel tax in the Ross Valley School District with a 73.7% majority in favor, up from 72.6% last week. The measure needs two-thirds in favor to pass.

The results have been a stark reversal from last year, when the district failed to pass the Measure E parcel tax.

"This victory is proof that when a community comes together with a shared purpose, amazing things can happen," Ross Valley resident and business owner Frank Gomez wrote on social media. "Thank you, Ross Valley, for standing up for our schools and investing in the future of our children."

The outlook was less rosy for the Novato Unified School District, where the Measure G parcel tax had a 62.9% approval vote on Monday. While that marked an increase from 61.7% last week, the measure remains well short of the two-thirds threshold to pass.

"Measure G isn't dead yet," Preston Picus, a parent in the district, said Tuesday. "But that last batch of votes didn't help us much."

If Measure G fails, the district, already the lowest-funded district in the county, "is going to suffer," Picus said.

"It's just too bad this is so close, when every other funding measure in Marin County passed," he said.

The county still has about 43,000 ballots left to be counted, according to Dan Miller of the elections office. Another batch of vote totals is scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

The Novato Unified School District is waiting for the final vote tally before discussing its next moves.

"We remain cautious about drawing firm conclusions from the current ballot totals," said Joshua Braff, the chief financial officer. "A significant number of votes are still outstanding. Final outcomes depend on how those ballots compare in composition and voting patterns to those already counted."

Braff said he is "encouraged by recent updates showing incremental gains in support."

"If the remaining ballots reflect similar proportions and voting trends as the most recent count, the measure is in a favorable position," he said.

Picus, who has three children at Novato schools, said the Measure G yes votes reported on Wednesday will need to be at a higher proportion than before in order to reach two-thirds.

"We need to see better than 72% yes the rest of the way for Measure G to pass," Picus said. "If we see smaller than 68% yes on the next batch, then Measure G is effectively dead."

Of the ballots left countywide, Picus estimates there are about 8,700 Measure G ballots remaining to count. He is hopeful that the late voters were mostly school district supporters who kept their ballots until the last minute because of uncertainty about the California governor's race.

At the Ross Valley School District, the long year of agony over the failure of Measure E appears to be over. For months, there were dire warnings of insolvency, school closures, teacher exits and a state takeover if the district didn't solve its budget deficit and revenue shortage.

What changed this year was that scores of residents, parents and teachers decided they did not want to see the district collapse.

"I believe Measure H is doing well in these results because our community is now deeply informed about school funding and fiercely committed to local schools," said Rachel Litwack, president of the board of trustees.

"A focus on education, awareness and outreach regarding the budget over the last year has clarified how RVSD has been impacted," Litwack said. "It sparked broad, cross‑generational volunteerism across San Anselmo and Fairfax, powering a strong grassroots effort."

District parent Anya Twigg, who led the Yes on Measure H effort, agreed.

"When Measure E failed last May, I knew we had to come back with a more clear message as to what was actually at stake for our schools," she said. "With Measure H, we had a focused strategy and an incredible team of parents and teacher volunteers. It was a grassroots campaign with no paid consultants."

Twigg said she and other volunteers knocked on 5,832 doors "and then we went back during the week leading to Election Day and knocked on 2,411 more."

"We wrote postcards, made phone calls and showed up to about every single community event over the last three months to build awareness of the issue among our broader Ross Valley community," she said. "It was the tireless work of all the volunteers - thousands of neighbor-to-neighbor conversations - that I believe made the difference."

Tyler Graff, the district superintendent, said the revisions between Measure E and Measure H, plus the community support, changed the dynamics this year.

"What we found was that our community wanted us to put the ballot measure on a statewide election and to keep the parcel tax a flat per-parcel tax - not the per-square-foot application that Measure E took," Graff said in an email. "I also believe that a huge part of our potential success this year was due to significant community engagement in the fall, a worsening budget scenario and excellent leadership on the Yes on H campaign."

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