Another parcel tax. The Oakland School Board voted 6 to 1 Thursday night to ask Oakland voters to approve a $195-a-year parcel tax designed to raise $20 million for Oakland teacher salaries, the Bay Area’s lowest, the Oakland Tribune reported. On top of the $360-a-year parcel tax being sought by the Oakland city council to help rehire 80 laid-off police officers, it promises to be a costly election season for Oakland voters. Trustee Gary Yee was quoted by the newspaper as saying “we have cut everything we could possibly cut,” but a recent analysis by this newspaper suggests otherwise. Oakland has way too many schools for its current student population, which has declined significantly in the past decade. But school closures are politically unpopular and the board’s current leadership shows no signs of being willing to buck the opposition that would certainly arise to such a move.
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