CARMEL VALLEY -- The state Department of Education is working to place an initiative for a $50 parcel tax on the November ballot as a way to pump an additional $500 million a year into public school education, State Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell said Monday.

The tax -- an annual assessment of $50 on every property in California -- could generate an additional $500 million that would be earmarked specifically for California schools, O'Connell told Solana Beach principals, district administrators and school board trustees before touring the high-tech campus serving 500 fifth and sixth-graders in Carmel Valley.

Under the initiative, known as the Classroom Learning and Accountability Act, disabled people and senior citizens over 65 years of age would be exempt, O'Connell emphasized.

EdVoice, described by its leaders as an organization of reform-minded philanthropists who support greater student achievement through investment, is backing the measure, said EdVoice president Christopher Cabaldon.

The Sacramento-based advocacy organization began collecting the necessary 600,000 signatures last week, said Cabaldon, adding that it plans to collect 1 million signatures to make sure the measure qualifies. Proponents have 150 days to gather the signatures.

EdVoice grew out of the passage of Proposition 39, which lowered the percentage of votes required for passage of a general obligation bond from 66 percent to 55 percent, making it easier to pass local bonds. Many of the same proponents pushing this proposed initiative backed Prop. 39.

If passed, the constitutional initiative could generate more than $500 million annually, with slight revenue growth each year as parcels get divided, Cabaldon said.

The tax would be "regressive," O'Connell said, meaning it would apply equally to the richest and poorest California property owners -- from the simple San Ysidro trailer park land owner to the tony Malibu mansion owner. Both private and corporate landowners would be subject to the tax.

The parcel tax would allow school districts to use the money for three major purposes; smaller class sizes ($225 million), textbook purchases ($100 million) and school safety ($100 million), according to the initiative filed with the state attorney general's office.

Noting that the state's school modernization fund is exhausted, O'Connell said about $90 million of the parcel tax would be available for school construction and modernization. However, he said, only school districts that have not passed a school construction bond would qualify for the money.

And $20 million would be allocated to help pay for a data collection system at the state level as a new student tracking program develops over the next few years. The system would help track individual students and allow the state to better judge the effectiveness of school and student performance.

The act also would require audits of school districts to ensure that the money is being spent on sanctioned programs and materials.

O'Connell conceded that the measure is "not without controversy."

An initial poll indicated soft support for the initiative, with 50 percent of voters in favor, and 42 percent opposed, O'Connell said, adding that a later poll showed 56 percent support.

Should the measure be approved, O'Connell said he envisioned increasing the tax every four years by an additional $50, which he said would start "getting into serious money" for California's 6 million schoolchildren in more than 1,000 school districts.

O'Connell vowed that the parcel tax proceeds would add to -- not replace -- existing school funding streams.

The legislature would be prohibited from siphoning money away or attaching onerous "red tape" requirements to school districts seeking the funds, Cabaldon said.

Unlike the myriad rules imposed by the legislature to obtain current state "Class-size Reduction" funds, the parcel tax fund would allow freedom to school districts to reduce classes to any size at any grade level, Cabaldon said. Obtaining the funds would be a relatively simple application similar to a block grant, he said.

The announcement came Monday as O'Connell prepared for a tour of Solana Pacific Elementary School in Carmel Valley. O'Connell addressed 18 district administrators and school board trustees, informing them about several upcoming educational issues under consideration at the state department of education.

O'Connell came to Solana Pacific at the request of Leslie Fausset, Solana Beach School District's new superintendent.

Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or pireland@nctimes.com.