The Marin funding chasm, in one table
When the Yes campaign says Ross Valley schools are “underfunded compared to neighbors,” it can sound like the kind of vague claim every district makes. So we went looking for the most authoritative data we could find. It’s the National Center for Education Statistics F-33 School District Finance Survey, which standardizes revenue and expenditure data for every school district in the country.[1]
The most recent F-33 release covers fiscal year 2021-22. The relative positioning of Marin’s 17 districts hasn’t changed in the years since. Here’s what it shows for total revenue per pupil — federal, state, local property taxes, parcel taxes, and foundation contributions, all sources combined:
| District | Type | Total revenue/student | Local | State | Federal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sausalito Marin City | Basic Aid | $35,744 | $25,485 (71%) | $4,980 (14%) | $5,279 (15%) |
| Ross Elementary | Basic Aid | $31,491 | $28,404 (90%) | $2,978 (9%) | $108 (0%) |
| Reed Union Elementary | Basic Aid | $29,697 | $26,668 (90%) | $2,498 (8%) | $530 (2%) |
| Tamalpais Union High | Basic Aid | $25,056 | $21,623 (86%) | $2,470 (10%) | $963 (4%) |
| Kentfield Elementary | Basic Aid | $24,158 | $19,306 (80%) | $4,400 (18%) | $452 (2%) |
| Mill Valley Elementary | Basic Aid | $22,864 | $19,160 (84%) | $2,904 (13%) | $800 (4%) |
| Larkspur-Corte Madera | Basic Aid | $21,263 | $17,054 (80%) | $2,589 (12%) | $1,620 (8%) |
| San Rafael City Elementary | LCFF | $20,680 | $9,425 (46%) | $9,086 (44%) | $2,170 (10%) |
| Miller Creek Elementary | Basic Aid | $18,207 | $14,951 (82%) | $2,503 (14%) | $753 (4%) |
| Ross Valley Elementary | Oscillates | $18,199 | $11,380 (63%) | $6,411 (35%) | $408 (2%) |
| Novato Unified | LCFF | $18,144 | $8,908 (49%) | $7,897 (44%) | $1,340 (7%) |
A few takeaways from this table are hard to dispute.
Three districts cluster at the bottom — and RVSD is the most exposed of the three
Novato Unified ($18,144), Ross Valley Elementary ($18,199), and Miller Creek Elementary ($18,207) are essentially tied at the bottom of total per-pupil revenue in Marin. Within $65 of each other.
But they’re not equally vulnerable. Novato is a conventional LCFF district (49% local, 44% state), so it captures the full LCFF formula including supplemental funding for its higher-need population. Miller Creek is a stable basic-aid district (82% local) with reliable property-tax revenue.
RVSD is structurally different. It’s neither fully LCFF nor fully basic-aid — it oscillates between the two regimes year-to-year, capturing neither’s full upside.[2] That 63% local / 35% state revenue mix in the table above is the fingerprint of a district stuck across the threshold. Among Marin’s bottom three by total revenue, RVSD is the one with the least structural cushion.
The peer-district gap is real, even after Measure H
RVSD’s $18,199 per pupil is:
- 80% of Mill Valley ($22,864) — a $4,665 gap
- 75% of Kentfield ($24,158) — a $5,959 gap
- 73% of Tamalpais Union HS ($25,056) — a $6,857 gap
- 61% of Reed Union ($29,697) — an $11,498 gap
- 58% of Ross Elementary ($31,491) — a $13,292 gap
- 51% of Sausalito Marin City ($35,744) — a $17,545 gap
A Reed Union family in Tiburon and an RVSD family in Fairfax are the same drive on the same Highway 101. Their kids attend the same kind of K-8 public school district. One of those districts gets $11,500 more per student per year. That’s not equivalent districts taxing themselves differently — that’s a structural funding gap baked into how California funds schools.
Why the gap exists (and why Measure H doesn’t close all of it)
The boring answer to the gap is: most of those higher-revenue districts are basic aid, meaning local property taxes alone exceed what Sacramento’s funding formula would otherwise allocate, so they keep all the local upside. Reed Union, Mill Valley, Kentfield, Larkspur-Corte Madera, and Ross are all basic-aid districts with 80–90% local revenue.[1]
RVSD’s housing market doesn’t generate enough property-tax-per-student to consistently clear the basic-aid threshold. Combined with low housing turnover in Fairfax and San Anselmo (long-tenured owners pay Prop 13–era assessed values, not market values), the local revenue base just isn’t big enough.[2] That’s the structural problem we walk through repeatedly across this site.
Measure H doesn’t fix that. It doesn’t put RVSD at Mill Valley’s or Reed Union’s level. What it does is keep RVSD in the same neighborhood as those bottom-three districts, instead of letting it slide further behind when the existing parcel tax expires in 2028.
What this means for your vote
The argument we hear from Measure H opponents is that $1,282 per parcel is too much.[3] The data here is the most direct rebuttal we know of. Even with the $540 increase, RVSD homeowners would pay $1,282 on top of a per-pupil revenue base that’s still below every comparable Marin K-8 district except Novato Unified. Mill Valley parents pay $1,520 today on top of $22,864 per pupil. Kentfield parents pay $1,842 today on top of $24,158 per pupil.[4] RVSD is being asked to pay less, on top of less.
Whether that’s fair is a normative question. Whether the funding gap exists isn’t — the federal data is unambiguous.
Bottom line: the funding gap is clear in the data, and Measure H is the response we support.
Sources
- NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33), FY 2021-22 — federal per-pupil revenue and revenue-mix data for every U.S. school district; RVSD shows $18,199 total at 63% local / 35% state / 2% federal.
- RVSD: Financial Information — district's own explanation of how it flips between LCFF (state-aid) and basic-aid (community-funded) status year to year.
- Marin IJ (Apr 14, 2026): "Ross Valley schools seek parcel tax renewal, increase" — the comprehensive pre-election piece, with the 959/995 LCFF ranking, the no-COLA teacher contract, Argument-in-Favor signer quotes (Bingea, Rosenthal, Gomez, Santucci), and Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers opposition (Willard, Aguilar) including the fungibility argument and the "come back in November" framing.
- Marin County Office of Education: school-district parcel tax summary (Sept 2025) — Marin K-8 parcel-tax rates, terms, and escalators by district, including current rates for Mill Valley ($1,520), Kentfield ($1,842), and Ross ($1,644).