Teacher Parcel Tax - How it can ensure effective teaching in every classroom, every day

July 28, 2010

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GO Public Schools applauds the Oakland Unified School District's Board of Education for taking leadership to increase the salaries of our teachers and other school staff, and in particular, focusing the parcel tax to "retain effective and skilled teaching staff to improve student achievement, and to fund teacher development to improve teacher performance." GO Public Schools continues to advocate that an effective teacher in every classroom is the single most important in-school factor determining student achievement.

The proposed parcel tax measure would raise $20 million for the Oakland Unified School District, providing an approximate 6% raise to teachers, student support staff, and school-site health and safety staff. To learn more about the provisions in the measure, please click here.

In order to ensure that the collected parcel tax funds actually increase student achievement, GO Public Schools would ask the Board to commit to not spending any Oakland taxpayer dollars until the Board adopts a definition of effective teaching, a clear system for measuring effectiveness, and a system for supporting teachers who do not meet this standard of effectiveness. GO believes that this commitment would support the District in its stated goal of having an effective teacher in every classroom, every day.  Without this commitment, GO does not believe that the district will be able to truly correlate the use of tax dollars with teacher effectiveness and increased student performance.

Therefore, GO Public Schools respectfully asks that in addition to placing the parcel tax on the ballot, the OUSD Board of Education passes a Resolution stating that any funds collected from the parcel tax cannot be used until a clear definition of effective teaching and an evaluative system for measuring teacher effectiveness are adopted by the Board. We believe that by passing this Resolution, the Board will be holding itself accountable to its own strategic priorities and the taxpayers of Oakland.

In addition, the proposed ballot measure does not address teacher recruitment. While increased salaries will help with teacher recruitment in Oakland, it will not, by itself, ensure an effective teacher in every classroom. We ask that the issue of recruiting quality teachers be addressed by the Board as part of this measure, or in some other clear manner. Our teacher workforce is facing a large wave of retirements in the next few years; this parcel tax presents an opportunity to help Oakland attract the teaching force our children deserve.

We understand this parcel tax is just one tool to ensure an effective teacher in every classroom, and we ask that the Board make the most of this unique opportunity for voters to support improved public schools in Oakland.

The Board of Education will be holding a special meeting tomorrow at 8pm at 1025 Second Avenue to discuss this parcel tax measure, and will vote on whether to place it on the November ballot. Join them to share your thoughts!

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