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
Novato Unified	LCFF	$18,144	$8,908 (49%)	$7,897 (44%)	$1,340 (7%)
Ross Valley Elementary	LCFF/teeter	$18,199	$11,380 (63%)	$6,411 (35%)	$408 (2%)
Miller Creek Elementary	Basic Aid	$18,207	$14,951 (82%)	$2,503 (14%)	$753 (4%)
San Rafael City Elementary	LCFF	$20,680	$9,425 (46%)	$9,086 (44%)	$2,170 (10%)
Larkspur-Corte Madera	Basic Aid	$21,263	$17,054 (80%)	$2,589 (12%)	$1,620 (8%)
Mill Valley Elementary	Basic Aid	$22,864	$19,160 (84%)	$2,904 (13%)	$800 (4%)
Kentfield Elementary	Basic Aid	$24,158	$19,306 (80%)	$4,400 (18%)	$452 (2%)
Tamalpais Union High	Basic Aid	$25,056	$21,623 (86%)	$2,470 (10%)	$963 (4%)
Reed Union Elementary	Basic Aid	$29,697	$26,668 (90%)	$2,498 (8%)	$530 (2%)
Ross Elementary	Basic Aid	$31,491	$28,404 (90%)	$2,978 (9%)	$108 (0%)
Sausalito Marin City	Basic Aid	$35,744	$25,485 (71%)	$4,980 (14%)	$5,279 (15%)

A few things this table makes obvious that no campaign mailer can.

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 in another post.

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.

That’s why we’re voting Yes on Measure H.

Sources

1. National Center for Education Statistics

   School District Finance Survey (F-33)

   , fiscal year 2021-22 (released 2024). District NCES IDs: Ross Valley Elementary 0600006, Mill Valley Elementary 0624870, Kentfield Elementary 0619380, Reed Union Elementary 0632160, Larkspur-Corte Madera 0620910, Ross Elementary 0633660, Tamalpais Union High 0638790, Sausalito Marin City 0636000, Novato Unified 0627720, San Rafael City Elementary 0635090, Miller Creek Elementary 0611220.

2. RVSD: Financial Information — district’s own explanation of the year-to-year flip between LCFF (state-aid) and basic-aid (community-funded) status, and the role of low housing turnover in Fairfax and San Anselmo.

3. Marin IJ (Apr 14, 2026): Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers position on Measure H.

4. Marin County Office of Education: school-district parcel tax summary (Sept 2025) — current rates for Mill Valley ($1,520), Kentfield ($1,842), and other Marin districts.

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