Barely a month into the new school year, funding from Measure A has already brought significant improvements to campus life.

On June 7 more than 73 percent of Palo Alto voters passed Measure A, a parcel tax of $493 for six years, to replace the current $293 parcel tax set to expire July 1, 2006.

Though newly instated, Measure A has already benefited the Gunn community. The Palo Alto Unified School District allocated enough money to Gunn to bring back a significant amount of support and supplies lost during budget cuts.

“We’re very happy that we were able to reinstate staffing [that we had to give up due to budget cuts],” Principal Noreen Likins said. These positions include a full-time secretary for all faculty and a secretary for the math and science department.

Attendance secretary hours, too, have been increased. “The direct impact Measure A had on the attendance department was that we were able to add an hour of paid time for each of the attendance secretaries,” assistant principal Anne-Marie Balzano said. “It has made monitoring attendance easier on them.”

Other tangible benefits from Measure A include a partial reinstatement for instructional support of $25 per student, which has allowed Gunn to purchase four times the supplies for students compared to last year. Also, seventeen teaching periods have been reinstated, allowing more course periods to be added in different departments, and class sizes at Gunn were decreased. Most visibly, freshman biology classes host at maximum 28 students per class.

“We were able to run a number of low-enrollment electives that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise,” Likins said. Among the courses saved were German 1, Far East History, Multi-cultural Literature and the Holocaust.

In other parts of the Palo Alto community, the Measure A parcel tax has also helped out. Elementary schools received the return of three out of four full time teachers for literacy and math support, a half time psychologist and the Spectra Art program. In middle schools, there is a partial reinstatement of teaching periods at each middle school, two counselors, and three instructional and student support positions assigned based on school enrollment.

This parcel tax has also reaffirmed confidence in today’s educational system and alleviated the monetary pressure on Palo Alto schools.

“Education has basically become the whipping boy of society,” Likins said. “We were dealing with low morale among staff and students, too. Measure A was a vote of confidence from the community, stating, ‘We approve of what you are doing.’

“From a practical standpoint, Measure A will last from five to six years, so there will be continued benefits,” she said.

73% of voters voted “yes” on Measure A in June

$25 more instructional support funding per student

400% increase in student supplies

17 teaching periods reinstated

28 students maximum in freshman biology classes