Measure to Subsidize Childcare in Marin County Leading in Early Returns
A Marin County measure to subsidize childcare, build more early education facilities and increase wages for educators is leading in early returns.
Measure P, which would increase parcel taxes to raise about $12.5 million each year over 15 years, has received at least 53% approval, according to the county’s Registrar of Voters on Wednesday.
If it passes, Marin will be the fourth Bay Area county in eight years to fund childcare. San Francisco, Alameda and Sonoma counties, as well as the city of Oakland and the Ravenswood City School District in San Mateo County, have all established their own funding streams for early childhood education and care.
“We’re still waiting for all final votes to be counted but we’re very optimistic that Marin voters will deliver a really, really important investment in kids of Marin County,” said Joanne Webster, president of the North Bay Leadership Council, a public advocacy group that backed the measure.
The Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers, which opposed the measure, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
In 2016, a group of Marin County parents and early childhood advocates put forward a sales tax measure to subsidize childcare in Marin County. It fell just 3 percentage points short of getting a supermajority, or two-thirds support, to pass.
Since then, a series of court decisions made it easier to pass citizen-led tax initiatives. Now, the measure only needs a simple majority of 50% to win.
Amarantha Silva, a Marin County parent who campaigned for the tax measure a decade ago and for Measure P this year, said she was confident it was headed to victory.
“Ten years ago, I was a mom carrying my son, Rafael, in my arms while pregnant with my daughter, Ximena, as a parent leader for a similar childcare tax initiative,” she said. “We kept pushing, and this time, we won!”
Silva is now organizing for Parent Voices Power, a group pushing for universal childcare across California. That movement is reaching as far south as San Diego County, where a sales tax measure that would partially fund childcare subsidies and early childhood mental or behavioral health services was also leading Wednesday with nearly 52% approval.
“This victory is proof that a parent-led grassroots movement can create positive change in our community,” Silva said.