Oak Park Unified School District officials are asking the community to support a parcel-tax extension on the June 3 ballot that would raise more than $7.3 million over eight years.

If approved, Measure C would extend an existing $197-per-parcel tax for an additional eight years. The measure, which needs a two-thirds voter approval to pass, would raise about $917,000 a year to support various academic programs, district Superintendent Tony Knight said.

"Because of state funding and declining enrollment, we have to hold on to this," Knight said. "If we lose this parcel tax, I don't know what kind of programs we will have for our kids. We will go from a world-class education to a mediocre one."

About 80 percent of voters approved a 2004 measure creating the tax, Knight said. If they extend it next month, it would save the district's elementary school music program, keep class sizes small and preserve other essential programs like art, Knight said.

The tax would remain at its current rate, and the revenue cannot be diverted to administrative salaries.

Similar to the 2004 measure, seniors who own homes would be exempt. An independent citizen's oversight committee would keep track of how the money is spent and issue a public report for the school board and community, Knight said.

Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's revised May budget proposal released last week would provide an additional $1.8 billion for schools in the 2008-09 fiscal year, local officials said they are still uncertain about which programs might be affected. While Schwarzenegger's budget would protect Proposition 98 funds — the state's minimum funding guarantee for schools — the plan does not include program cost-of-living increases.

Knight said district staff members are busy researching how the revised budget would affect programs, but they initially projected a loss of $1.5 million to $2 million because of declining enrollment and cuts in state funding.

Fiscal uncertainty is just one of the reasons the passage of Measure C is so important, said Jay Kapitz, chair of Oak Park Citizens for Excellent Schools.

"Truthfully, we don't know which programs are on the chopping block," Kapitz said. "Because we might have to increase size classes, basic academic programs such as reading, math and science will be impacted."

For the past few months, Oak Park Citizens — a committee of parents and residents — has campaigned for the measure.

The committee has erected signs across town and sent information to residents. "We're also walking door to door and calling voters to let them know that we really need their vote," Kapitz said. "It's not just for parents and students, but the whole community. In Oak Park the students come out of school really prepared for the future, and that's what we are trying to maintain."