Novato Unified School District officials will try again early next year to earn voter support to continue the district’s parcel tax.

The district’s board voted 7-0 on Tuesday to place a parcel tax renewal measure on the March 7 ballot. The measure, if approved by two-thirds of district voters, would continue the tax at the same annual rate it has been since 2014, $251 per parcel, for eight years.

Unlike the district’s unsuccessful try at renewing the tax in March 2020, the new measure would not include a tax hike and would not have an annual cost of living increase.

Because the current tax term expires in June, officials did not want to risk losing the $4 million annually that a straight tax renewal represents, Jan La Torre-Derby, the district’s superintendent, said at the board meeting.

“We know there may be some people disappointed that there is no inflator and that we’re not increasing the amount,” La Torre-Derby said. “To secure the $4 million on March 7 is really important, because if we can’t do that, by March 15, we’d have to do a reduction in force.”

March 15 is the state deadline for “pink slips,” or warning notices to teachers of a potential layoff.

“We know that is not anything we want to do,” La Torre-Derby said. “We know what that felt like, and we want to avoid that.”

The district, which is in the middle of contract negotiations with the Novato Federation of Teachers union, had to lay off about 30 teachers last year in order to balance the budget amid a drop in enrollment during the pandemic. The layoffs came after an earlier plan to shutter one of the district’s elementary schools was shelved after widespread community protest.

“It’s a constant struggle,” trustee Diane Gasson said of the board’s wish to pay teachers more but not having enough money to do so. “It’s basically all about people. This tax pays for people.”

Polling by Godbey Research Inc. has indicated that while two-thirds of voters were likely to approve a straight renewal of the parcel tax, the percentage of likely yes votes fell below the two-thirds threshold when a rate increase or inflator was added in, consultants said at the board meeting Tuesday.

A series of committees that included district staff, parents and community members also reviewed the options for the parcel tax over the past year, according to La Torre-Derby.

“The important part is that since 1992, this community has supported a parcel tax,” trustee Ross Millerick said. “That’s because they believe that this leadership team does a good job serving the community.”

The district “does a lot of things in town that are beyond just the classroom,” Millerick said.

“This has to be a message about the unity of the educational system in Novato,” he said.