Conejo Valley Unified School District’s superintendent believes it’s time to investigate new ways to fill projected revenue gaps during the next few years.

That includes floating the idea of a sending a parcel tax to Thousand Oaks voters.

Jeffrey Baarstad—who officially moved into the district’s top spot July 1—broached that sub- ject at the CVUSD Board of Education’s June 29 meeting. During his presentation of the district’s 2010-11 budget, which the board ultimately approved by a 4-0 vote, Baarstad said the time may be right to ask residents to help CVUSD in the wake of drastic education funding cuts that continue to be handed down at the state level.

With the district facing an estimated deficit of $8.49 million, it’s an idea that appears to be gaining traction at the board level.

“Maybe the climate is right now for a parcel tax,” said Timothy Stephens during Baarstad’s presentation. “If we don’t, eight-and-a-half million is a lot of (money).”

“It’s people’s money. It’s a difficult time. It would not be an easy road to go down,” Baarstad said in a follow-up interview with the Acorn. “But I think it’s something we still need to investigate.”

The concept behind a parcel tax is simple: Ask voters to approve a short-term yearly tax on all land parcels within the school district’s boundaries, with the goal of generating millions of dollars that would go directly into CVUSD’s coffers.

It’s a budgeting tool that’s been increasingly successful in neighboring school districts in recent years. Voters in Las Virgenes Unified School District originally approved a parcel tax in 2004 and renewed it in 2007, and voters in Oak Park Unified School District also passed such a tax in 2004 and renewed it in 2008.

For such a windfall to become reality for CVUSD, the district must first do its homework and learn whether such a measure would stand a fighting chance at the ballot box, where it would require the approval of two-thirds of voters.

Otherwise, it makes no sense for the district to invest an estimated minimum of $40,000 to fund the election, which would likely occur next March.

An important part of the research is nailing down a “tipping point” for the tax–the amount that would exceed voter acceptance.

Homeowners in Las Virgenes school district pay a parcel tax of $98 per year, while Oak Park’s is $197 annually.

“The plan is to first do a community survey to see what the population will tolerate,” said CVUSD board president Pat Phelps. “If it’s positive, that would be a good solution. . . . This is a way for a community to reinvest their tax dollars right into their own community. I would hope since it’s becoming more largely accepted that the people in Thousand Oaks will feel the same way.”

Conejo district must also find a willing partner to fund the parcel tax campaign. State law doesn’t allow the district to put its own money into such marketing efforts, meaning local parent teacher organizations or other support groups must pay for campaign materials and spread the word among voters.

Baarstad believes such a grassroots effort is already under way.

“The issue really has come to us. Some of our parent leaders have e-mailed me and asked if we’ve considered this,” Baarstad said.

“(Their participation),” he said, “is absolutely necessary.”