School board candidate wants to pay teachers more, hopes to bring back parcel tax

BY STEPHANIE LAM
Daily Post Correspondent

A parent and long-time school volunteer who wants to push for increasing pay for teachers and bring back a failed parcel tax is running for a seat on the Palo Alto School Board.

Linda Henigin, 56, on Friday officially joined the race to replace incumbents Shounak Dharap and Shana Segal. Residents Avery Wang and John Craig have both said they plan to run but have not turned in their completed forms to run, according to the Santa Clara County Elections Office’s list of candidates. 

Henigin said she is in favor of paying teachers “as much as we can.” Last month, the Palo Alto’s teachers union reached a contract deal with the Palo Alto Unified School District that calls for a 5% salary increase for the academic year that just ended, a 5.4% increase for the coming year and two $5,000 cash bonuses. 

Depleted reserves

Because of the new labor contracts, the district’s $104.1 million in reserves will be depleted to $24.8 million by the end of next school year. Henigin said the school shouldn’t be “hoarding money for (money’s) sake.”

If elected, she wants to bring a parcel tax back for voters next spring. Voters rejected an earlier version of it in June. Henigin said she would help campaign by giving the public a clear explanation as to why the schools need the funds.

“We need to build trust with our community and be really clear about what it would be spent on, and why it’s necessary,” Henigin said. 

The tax would have raised $14.5 million, and be used to help fund teacher’s paychecks and local programs.

Her bio

Henigin received a master’s degree from Bank Street College of Education in New York and taught elementary school in New Jersey from 2003 to 2007, according to her social media.

Henigin has been a middle school and high school student in the district and works as an aide at Duveneck Elementary School.

Henigin is also a board member for Pathwise (formerly DreamCatchers), a nonprofit that offers free after-school programs to middle school students. 

Henigin is on a nominating committee at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto and the executive board of the Palo Alto Council of PTAs, according to their websites.

Henigin has pushed the city to allow denser housing. She is involved with Indivisible Palo Alto Plus, a group that has marched for immigrant rights and against President Trump.