Election results show Measure P, a parcel tax measure for the Portola Valley School District, falling short of the votes needed to pass.

With 40.86% of the votes counted by Thursday, March 5, 63.5% of voters have said yes to the measure, which requires a two-thirds, or 67%, voter majority, county election officials reported.

"Although this is not yet at the 2/3 support level required for passage, there are thousands of ballots that have not yet been counted and we anticipate that support for Measure P will continue to climb," said Superintendent Roberta Zarea in a Wednesday, March 4, email to parents.

"We will wait for every last vote to be counted before drawing any conclusions. Regardless of the outcome, this is a community that supports its schools and I am so proud of our teachers, staff, parents and especially our students."

Semi-official election results released at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday show Measure P with 1,315 votes of support and 756 no votes (36.5%).

Those results include vote by mail ballots received in the mail by the Monday before Election Day, vote by mail ballots returned at vote centers and drop boxes by the Sunday before Election Day, and a portion of votes cast at vote centers on Election Day according to county elections officials. Results will be posted at 4:30 p.m. each weekday until all ballots are counted.

The numbers shifted only slightly from the last results released in the early morning hours Wednesday, when the measure had 63.46% voter approval. There were only 115 more ballots counted between then and Thursday afternoon.

Measure P would update the district's Measure O parcel tax, which expires in June 2021. It would continue the tax at its current rate of $581 per parcel in its first year, then increase it by 3% in each following year.

The current parcel tax generates about $1.2 million annually for Portola Valley School District classroom programs and teaching staff.

This amounts to an additional $17 to $21 per parcel annually, said district Chief Business Officer Connie Ngo. Voters will be asked to extend the measure by eight years.

In addition to Portola Valley residents, the district includes Woodside residents who live in the Skylonda and Skywood Acres neighborhoods and off Philips and Family Farm roads, and part of Mountain Home Road. See a map of the school district boundaries here.

The current tax, Measure O, funds advanced math, science and technology programs; reading and writing programs; art and music programs; reduced class sizes; and retention of teachers for the district's two schools, Ormondale and Corte Madera, according to the district website. District staff asserts that the measure "must be renewed" to maintain these programs.

Measure O passed in 2013 with 69% of the vote. It consolidated two expiring measures: Measure C (with an annual tax of $290 per parcel) and Measure D ($168 per parcel), and increased the rate by $123 per parcel to $581, Ngo said.

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