photo credit: Petaluma City Schools
Students speaking at a Petaluma City Schools board meeting.

Petaluma voters will once again vote on a new parcel tax designed to support local schools.

Measure I would add a $129 annual parcel tax through 2034.

If approved by two-thirds of Petaluma voters, Measure I will bring in over three million dollars each year for the Petaluma Joint Union High School District.

A similar measure fell short of passing in the March 2024 election by just three percent.

A parcel tax specifically for Petaluma's elementary schools was successful in the same election.

Mady Cloud is a Petaluma City Schools trustee and current board president.

She said this second crack at a parcel tax for the high schools is vital for the district's long term successful.

"This year was to me kind of a perfect storm of bad things in terms of finances," Cloud said. "During Covid, both the state and the federal government supplemented all all education across the country...and in California, they added [to] what the federal government gave us...Well, that all ended."

Cloud said Covid funding was a kind of catch-22 for Petaluma City Schools.

Like other districts across California, it was able to bring in student support staff like counselors and instructional aides, but relied on the one-time dollars.

With that money gone, and Sacramento facing a shrinking budget as well, Cloud said the board has already voted to trim two million from the budget this year.

"The parcel tax would basically steady our financial ship so to speak and give us a little bit of a breathing room," Cloud said. "We will still need to reduce funding but the reductions we're hoping will not be quite as severe."

Cloud acknowledged the measure comes at a challenging time for many household budgets, and she noted seniors are eligible for an exemption should the parcel tax pass.

"Without the parcel tax money, the district will have to cut millions of dollars and it will basically impact every site, every program, every employee, and every student," Cloud said.

Measure I is supported by Cloud as well as Sandra Larsen, president of the Petaluma Teachers Union; no official opposition to the measure has been filed.