Marin IJ editorial board endorses Measure H

On May 3, 2026, the Marin Independent Journal editorial board published its recommendation: Yes on Measure H.[1]

The IJ editorial board doesn’t endorse every school measure. They took no position on Larkspur-Corte Madera’s Measure D this cycle, for example.[2] Their support carries weight with Marin readers who track local civic decisions through the IJ.

What the editorial says

The IJ board’s case is built on five points. None of them are new to readers of this site (we’ve been making versions of these arguments for weeks), but the IJ’s framing is worth quoting because it represents the consensus read of an editorial board that has covered Marin schools for decades.

1. The 2025 result was a near miss, not a rejection

Last year, the Ross Valley School District’s proposal to extend and increase its special tax got better than 63% of the vote. That would be a significant majority that any victorious campaign would celebrate. But state law requires a two-third supermajority to pass most special taxes and Ross Valley’s measure was unsuccessful.

— Marin IJ

This is the framing we’ve made in The two-thirds problem: a 62.53% Yes vote on Measure E in May 2025 was a clear majority that fell short only because of California’s 66.67% threshold for special taxes.[3][4] The IJ is treating the prior result as a structural outcome of California’s two-thirds threshold for school parcel taxes.

2. The contingency consequences are real

Measure H is needed, its backers say, to avoid severe budget cuts, possibly including shuttering two of its elementary school campuses and laying off teachers. That’s a significantly disruptive dilemma.

— Marin IJ

The “two elementary school campuses” reference tracks the Tier 3 contingency the district filed with the Marin County Office of Education in January.[5] We covered the full three-tier plan in What No actually triggers. The IJ’s word choice (“significantly disruptive”) shows the board accepting the contingency framing as credible reporting.

3. Teacher pay is structurally below the market

Backers of Measure H say the significant increase is needed because the district – which includes five campuses and 1,720 students – has one of the lowest per-pupil funding among California school districts. The salaries it pays its teachers are so low that it is losing some of its best faculty members to school districts that pay a lot more.

— Marin IJ

The “one of the lowest per-pupil funding” claim refers to RVSD’s 959/995 LCFF base-grant rank — the bottom 4% statewide.[6][7] We laid out the full inter-district revenue gap in The Marin funding chasm.

The editorial then adds a specific data point we hadn’t seen reported elsewhere:

District Superintendent Tyler Graff said that last year the district lost five top-quality teachers who were hired away by the Reed Union School District, which pays a lot better than Ross Valley.

— Marin IJ

That’s the kind of concrete attrition figure that turns “teacher salaries are low” from a slogan into a specific competitive problem. Reed Union is a basic-aid district two ridges away with substantially higher per-pupil revenue.[8] Five departures out of a small teaching staff in a single year is a large number. We discussed this dynamic at greater length in Teacher retention is a leading indicator.

4. The fix is the flat per-parcel design that’s been on the bill since 1993

Unlike the 2025 measure, Measure H continues the current flat parcel tax, which has been on the property tax bill since 1993. Last year’s measure would have converted it to a levy based on the size of the property, meaning owners of larger homes or business properties would have paid a lot more. That change, although advocated by tax critics, was cited in the district’s post-election polls as one of the reasons the 2025 measure lost.

— Marin IJ

This matters, and the IJ board is being honest about a piece of design history they had previously called out. In their May 2025 post-mortem editorial, the board explicitly criticized the per-square-foot rate structure as part of why Measure E failed.[9] The fact that Measure H reverts to the flat per-parcel format is, in the IJ board’s eyes, a design correction. We covered this comparison in detail in RVSD Measure E vs. Measure H: what’s changed.

5. The post-Measure-H rate is still below comparable Marin K-8 districts

Even with the increase, Ross Valley’s parcel tax would be less than those voter-approved school taxes levied in the Kentfield, Mill Valley and Ross elementary districts.

— Marin IJ

This is the comparison we make most often on this site. Even at $1,282, RVSD’s rate is below Mill Valley ($1,520), Ross ($1,644), and Kentfield ($1,842). And those neighbors are basic-aid districts that already have substantially higher per-pupil revenue before counting their parcel taxes.[10][8] RVSD homeowners are being asked to pay less, on top of less, just to keep the schools functioning at their current level.

What the editorial says about senior exemptions

The IJ editorial gives readers a number we’ve covered in the senior exemption guide:

Seniors are eligible to apply for exemptions from paying the tax and the district has made that process easy, backers say. About 28% of the district’s parcels have filed for exemptions.

— Marin IJ

For homeowners 65 and over, SSI recipients, and SSDI recipients, the senior exemption means Measure H costs $0.[11] If you qualify, the application is short and only needs to be filed once.

What the editorial fairly notes about the No argument

The editorial is honest about the opposition case:

Critics of Measure H say the district should not be asking for such a large increase. If Measure H fails, the district should return to the voters with a more “modest increase,” one that recognizes the financial hardships facing many district taxpayers.

— Marin IJ

That’s the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers’ position, captured fairly.[7][12] The practical problem with “come back in November with a smaller ask” is that the November 2026 ballot is the only remaining statewide election before the existing parcel tax expires on June 30, 2028, and a smaller measure doesn’t close the structural gap that drove the contingency plan in the first place.[13][14]

What the editorial flags about oversight

Measure H also includes the formation of a citizen oversight committee that will track and evaluate how the district spends the revenue. That committee should reflect the taxpayer base of the district, not just the school community.

— Marin IJ

The board’s caveat is fair: oversight should reflect the broader taxpayer base, including residents from beyond the school community. That lines up with how the committee is structured in the ballot language.[15] We covered the oversight mechanism in detail in Independent oversight: the committee composition is designed to include community members and is required to issue annual public reports.

The 25% revenue figure

One number from the editorial deserves a brief note:

The special tax has become a major source of the district’s annual revenue. Measure H would represent 25% of its annual revenue.

— Marin IJ

This is consistent with the district’s own budget materials. The current parcel tax generates roughly $4.8M per year against a ~$30M general fund (~16%); at the higher Measure H rate, ~$8.6M against a similar base lands in the 25% range as Measure H’s first-year revenue ramps up.[16][7] That share is typical for Marin K-8 districts outside basic-aid; it’s a structural feature of the LCFF/basic-aid system we explained in LCFF explained and The basic-aid oscillation.

Where this leaves the institutional landscape

The IJ board’s endorsement closes the most-watched gap in the institutional record going into the final weekend before Election Day. The Yes coalition now includes:

  • Federal, state, county, and town elected officials representing the district
  • All five sitting RVSD trustees (including the trustee whose February dissent argued for a larger increase)
  • Trustees from three neighboring districts
  • The Marin County Democratic Party
  • The League of Women Voters of Marin County
  • The Ross Valley Teachers Association
  • The YES Foundation
  • The Marin Independent Journal editorial board

The opposition coalition remains the five signers of the Argument Against plus the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers. No additional institutional opposition has emerged.[7][12][17]

That’s an asymmetry worth noting as you fill out your ballot.

Where we land

We’ve recommended a Yes vote on Measure H since this site launched, and the IJ editorial board’s recommendation matches the case we’ve been making — local control, structural underfunding, real consequences for failure, a flat per-parcel design that’s been on the books since 1993, and a post-tax rate that still leaves RVSD homeowners paying less than their Kentfield, Mill Valley, and Ross neighbors.

If your ballot is sitting on the kitchen counter, please remember to return it by Election Day, June 2, 2026.

Sources

  1. Marin IJ (May 3, 2026): "Editorial: IJ supports Measure H in support of Ross Valley School District" — IJ editorial board endorsement of Measure H; cites Superintendent Graff that RVSD lost five teachers to Reed Union last year, notes Measure H would represent 25% of district annual revenue, ~28% of parcels file for senior exemption, and that even with the increase RVSD's parcel tax would be lower than Kentfield, Mill Valley, and Ross.
  2. Marin IJ (Apr 22, 2026): "Editorial: IJ supports Measure I for Marin City field, takes no position on Measure D" — IJ editorial board endorsement of Measure I and no-position on Measure D.
  3. California Constitution, Articles XIIIC and XIIID (Proposition 218, 1996) — establishes the two-thirds voter-approval requirement for special taxes, including school parcel taxes.
  4. Measure E (Ross Valley SD, May 2025): Marin County Elections — official ballot text, 52¢ per building square foot on improved parcels plus $95 per unimproved parcel; Ballotpedia for the certified 62.53% Yes / 37.47% No result against the 66.67% threshold.
  5. Marin IJ (Jan 31, 2026): "Ross Valley School District drafts $4.3M in budget cuts" — three-tier MCOE-required contingency plan (Tier 1 $170K → Tier 2 $1.04M → Tier 3 $3.1M with closure of two of four elementary schools); Graff's August 2028 "likely receivership" framing; positive → qualified → negative budget-status trajectory.
  6. Per-pupil funding rank (959/995, LCFF base grant) cited by the district and the Yes on H campaign; reported by Marin IJ (Apr 14, 2026).
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Marin IJ (May 18, 2025): "Editorial: Ross Valley School District officials need to learn what went wrong before moving forward" — IJ editorial post-mortem on Measure E criticizing the per-square-foot rate structure and ballot language.
  10. 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).
  11. RVSD: Parcel tax information & senior exemption form — eligibility (65+, SSI, SSDI), exemption form, oversight-committee details, and the framing of June 2 and November 3, 2026 as the only statewide elections before the existing tax expires June 30, 2028.
  12. Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers — CST's published opposition to Measure H, focused on the dollar amount, escalator, and cumulative tax burden rather than misuse of existing parcel-tax revenue.
  13. RVSD parcel-tax page frames June 2 and November 3, 2026 as "the only statewide election opportunities for renewal or adjustment" before the existing tax expires June 30, 2028. California's next statewide election after that is the March 7, 2028 presidential primary.
  14. Marin IJ (Feb 15, 2026): "Ross Valley sends parcel tax to June ballot" — board deliberation on the rate ($300–$750 range), Anna Marsh's $600 dissent, Graff's response to CST's $149 alternative ("wouldn't resolve any of the district's budget issues") and "June 2 is D Day" framing, and February 11 public-hearing testimony.
  15. Ballotpedia: Measure H — official ballot text, vote threshold, permitted/prohibited uses, senior exemption, oversight committee, 3% COLA, and 10-year term.
  16. RVSD 2025-26 Adopted Budget (BoardDocs PDF) — general-fund revenues ($29.77M), parcel-tax share (~16%), reserves projected below the 3% state minimum after 2028, ADA-to-enrollment ratios, and the ~$468K annual in-lieu transfer to Ross Valley Charter School.
  17. Yes for RVSD Schools campaign committee (FPPC #1479035) — full endorsement list across federal, state, county, town, school-board, and organizational endorsers.
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