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James Shepard urges Mill Valley parents to fill survey and prepare to defend parcel tax as cuts loom
Summary
Parent and facilitator James Shepard urged Mill Valley families to complete a short district survey and attend a community conversation with Superintendent Dr. Kaufman on April 17, warning that a parcel tax that funds nearly a quarter of the district budget will expire in a few years and could trigger deeper cuts.
James Shepard, an executive coach and parent in the Mill Valley School District, urged fellow parents to take part in community planning and to prepare to support renewal of a local parcel tax that he says funds nearly a quarter of the district's budget. "We can't afford to take world-class education in Mill Valley for granted anymore," Shepard said, and he invited residents to an in-person conversation with Superintendent Dr. Kaufman on April 17.
Shepard said the district has recently weathered deficits, layoffs and the near loss of transitional kindergarten (TK), and that many families — including his — were directly affected. "We've just been through something really hard: the deficits, the layoffs, the near loss of transitional kindergarten," he said, framing the moment as a "critical crossroads" for local public education.
The immediate concern Shepard raised was a local parcel tax that he described as making up "almost a quarter of the district's budget." He warned that "when it expires in a few years, if we don't renew it, cuts will come that will hit way harder than what we've just experienced." Shepard framed the discussion as a choice between staying frustrated on the sidelines and stepping in to shape priorities for students.
To gather parent input, Shepard asked listeners "please take 3 minutes and fill out the survey" and to submit questions they would like him to raise with Dr. Kaufman. He also urged parents to "join us in person on April 17" for a community conversation he is facilitating pro bono.
Shepard suggested examples of priorities families might weigh when deciding how to support the district financially, naming expanded STEM and foreign-language opportunities, greater access to counseling support, and the stability of transitional kindergarten as possible focuses. He described the process as "values-driven decisions about what matters most for our kids' education."
The message closed with a call for collective action: Shepard asked parents to help rebuild trust and get on the same page as a community to protect the quality of local education. The school district or Superintendent Dr. Kaufman were not quoted directly in this recording; the call-to-action centers on parent engagement and the upcoming April 17 meeting.
