On Thursday, Aug. 3, the California First District Court of Appeal ruled in a unanimous opinion that Measure A — a parcel tax designed to help attract and retain high-quality Alameda Unified employees — is legal and valid.

Measure A, which voters approved in March 2020, levies a parcel tax of $0.265 per building square foot on all Alameda property owners with a maximum (or “cap”) of $7,999. This tax applies to all property structures regardless of type and size. The measure, backed by the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD), passed with 67.1 percent “yes” votes — the measure needed two-thirds (66.6 percent) “yes” votes to be approved.

“Our employees have dedicated their careers to supporting students in our public education system,” said AUSD Superintendent Pasquale Scuderi in a statement. “We are so pleased to be able to tell them that the Court of Appeal has decided in our favor, and that their salaries are not in jeopardy.”

In May 2020, Alameda resident and former Alameda Unified School Board candidate Leland Traiman filed a lawsuit against the measure, alleging the cap violates California Government Code Section 50079, which requires school district’s special taxes to “apply uniformly to all taxpayers or all real property.”

Traiman said the tax was unfair because big box stores like Lucky Supermarket and Safeway would be applied a different tax rate than smaller businesses and residences based on the cap provision of $7,999, violating the Government Code. AUSD argued that the measure was valid because the tax does apply to all taxpayers equally. On April 5, 2022, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Julia Spain ruled in favor of Traiman.

“As sympathetic as this court may be to the desire to raise additional funds to support schools and quality education for students, it is nonetheless duty-bound to uphold the provisions of the California Constitution,” Spain wrote in her official decision.

AUSD appealed the decision that same month. Oral arguments were heard on July 27. After the appeals process, California First District Division 5 Court of Appeal Justices Teri L. Jackson, Danny Y. Chou and Gordon B. Burns reversed Spain’s decision and ruled in favor of AUSD. In their report, the justices wrote Measure A does not violate Government Code Section 50079 because it applies one uniform rate on all property owners.

“Measure A does not categorize property at all. It does not, by its express terms, set up two classifications,” stated the report. “Instead, it imposes a square footage tax at the rate of $0.265 per building square foot on all parcels; it then essentially promises voters it will not collect more than $7,999 on any one parcel, no matter who owns it, and no matter what the property’s type or use.”

Traiman has until Sept. 12 to ask the California Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeal’s opinion.

“We are so grateful to the Alameda community for their consistent support of the parcel taxes AUSD needs to provide high-quality instruction to the children of Alameda,” said AUSD Board President Heather Little. “This decision validates AUSD’s decision to structure taxes in a way that both raises the revenue we urgently need and limits the burden on any one taxpayer. We now know this is both a fair and legal formula.”

The Measure A tax had been applied to Alameda property owners while the appeals process took place. During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the tax produced more than $10.68 million in funds for AUSD, according to the district’s Parcel Tax Program Staff Report.

After the March 2020 vote, AUSD teachers received an additional 1 percent raise retroactive to January 2020 and an eight percent increase for 2020-21. The tax will expire by June 2027.

Over the last 12 years, AUSD has placed three parcel taxes on the ballot: Measure A (which voters approved in 2011), Measure B1 (a renewal of Measure A that was approved in 2016), and the second Measure A, which was approved in 2020. All three taxes were calculated by square footage with a cap on the total amount paid.