Oak Park Unified School District will place a parcel tax, dubbed “Measure A,” on the May 2017 all-mail ballot to help maintain lower class sizes. If passed, this parcel tax will serve as a slightly modified continuation of previous parcel taxes, one in 2004 and another in 2008.

A parcel tax is issued to homeowners at a flat rate per “parcel,” or property, rather than one based upon property value. For this tax, each resident only pays $197 per year — no matter the size of property he owns.

The district proposed the tax on Oak Park residents to help maintain the growth of all the district’s schools. Specifically, the tax helps pay for teacher salaries.

The parcel tax brings in added revenue of $900,000 per year. With these funds, the district is able to keep class sizes low in each school, with an average teacher-student ratio of 1:24.

The 2008 parcel tax is just ending its eight-year term. The new parcel tax comes with new benefits that the previous one didn’t include, such as exemptions for disabled and senior citizens. However, the renewal of the parcel tax will bring no dent or enlarged cash flow to the budget for teachers, but would rather maintain the district’s current budget.

The option to file for an exemption and the added ability to automatically renew the exemption every year, were added to reduce inconveniences among residents.

However, external circumstances that also impact the district have raised concerns about whether or not the parcel tax is high enough.

“The state is increasing our funding a little, but our costs are going up due to a decision by the state to place a greater burden on school districts to pay for the retirement contributions of employees,” superintendent Tony Knight wrote in an email.

In order to keep up with these costs, the district must increase funding by 4 percent each year to stay at the most efficient budget. This annual uptick also results from the increasing salaries of teachers who advance on the salary schedule. However, the state only contributes 1.4 percent of that 4 percent yearly increase.

Ultimately, the district decided to pursue a parcel tax at the same rate as previous measures. According to Knight, the current rate strikes a favorable balance between funding and community support.

“With the state giving less money next year, I would like to increase the parcel tax, but it will stay at $197,” Knight wrote.

Without the tax, on average, the high school classes would increase from 32 to 35 students per teacher, the middle school from 30 to 34, the fourth and fifth grade classes from 32 to 34 and the kindergarten to second grade from 24 to 28.

“If the parcel tax [does] not pass, around 11 teachers would be affected,” Knight said.

These 11 teachers would come from all schools in the district, including Oak Park Independent School — the district’s home schooling program.

The original 2004 tax passed with 82.2 percent approval, and the district administration is hopeful for a third election in favor of the tax.

The measure needs a minimum of two-thirds approval from Oak Park residents in order to be renewed. With no outside polling conducted for this parcel tax, the district has little indication on which direction the vote may lean.

“I hope that the community supports its passage and we rely on the funds to maintain funding levels. Our community is very supportive of our schools. We are hopeful that we can count on continued support,” Principal Kevin Buchanan wrote in an email.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article published Feb. 23 incorrectly stated that the parcel tax would bring in $9,000 in additional funds, the corrected value is $900,000.