"I can tell you off the top of my head, we'd lose two teachers [without the parcel tax money]," Superintendent Larry Enos told trustees.

San Geronimo Valley property owners now pay a $180-per-parcel tax to support $354,000 in district program enhancements - about 15 percent of the district budget. The revenue funds small class sizes, a school counselor, classroom aides, art, music, physical education, and foreign language instruction.

State grants to the district result from a legislative decision to pay schools for limiting kindergarten through third-grade classes to 20 students.

Meeting that limit could bring the district more than $130,000 to hire additional teachers and buy materials, he said.

The state also is offering a one-time grant for site improvements totaling $50,000 that may be spent on current construction projects, school officials said.

"It's a wonderful and rare opportunity for the district to address its highest priorities," said Trustee Richard Sloan.

But the classroom plans must be designed and approved by the board by Nov. 1, Enos told trustees.

The school board needs to tell parents what the options are, so they and school staff can offer opinions within a month's time, said Trustee Steve Charrier.

"We [trustees] would like to provide the opportunity for [parents] to design their programs," Sloan noted.

In other school business:

Other construction and remodeling projects continue at each school campus, with bid notices for painting and remodeling published this week in The Light, he said.

The "wastewater treatment [issue] will hit us fast and hard and it will require quick decisions," Enos said.

Describing efforts to shut off a broken water fountain, Trustee Richard Sloan said, "When I finally found it after a half hour, [a maintenance worker] had a board nailed over it because the kids would always turn it off."