The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education agreed Tuesday to put a $100 parcel tax on the June 8 ballot in hopes of raising funds for the cash-strapped district.

The proposed tax, which needs the support of two-thirds of voters, would raise about $92.5 million a year, and would remain in place for four years.

The LAUSD is expected to be facing about a $640 million budget deficit in the coming fiscal year.

After about an hour of discussion, the board voted 5-1 to place the item on the ballot. Board member Marguerite LaMotte was absent.

The $100 levy would be assessed on each piece of taxable real property within the LAUSD boundaries, regardless of value. The assessment would be added to the county tax bill for each affected property. For example, a person who pays property taxes on two pieces of property would pay $100 on each bill.

The LAUSD covers 710 square miles, including the bulk of the city of Los Angeles and all or part of a variety of other cities in Los Angeles County.

Board member Tamar Galatzan cast the dissenting vote, saying the measure would raise a relatively small amount of money and would barely amount to a “Band-Aid” that would do little to cure the district’s overall budget woes.

She said the district needs to delve deeper into its budget and look for other ways of cutting costs.

“Now is the time to look at every single program, look at how it’s funded, why it’s funded, who benefits from it, get rid of the ones that don’t work and change the ones where the funding mechanism just isn’t benefiting our students,” Galatzan said. “We as a board need to do all of that work first.”

Board chairman Richard Vladovic conceded that the proposed parcel tax would not be a complete solution to the LAUSD’s financial troubles, but he said it was a step in the right direction.

“It’s not going to solve the problem, and I agree with Tamar and everybody else,” he said. “What we’re trying to do right now, as they taught me in the Army, is stop the bleeding first. That’s all it’s going to do. It’s not going to make the person well. It’s going to stop the bleeding so we don’t have the chaos of a county takeover or a state takeover.”

The proposed parcel tax would exempt low-income seniors, and district officials said none of the revenue would be applied toward administrators’ salaries.

The school board has already approved a series of cost-saving measures to address the funding gap, including laying off some 5,000 workers over the next two years, increasing K-3 class sizes from 24:1 to 29:1, and eliminating music and arts programs.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines recently announced a plan to cut the school year by six days, including five instructional days.

Several other school districts have already placed parcel taxes on the June ballot, including the Pasadena Unified School District.

A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said he was hesitant to support the tax without first being assured that the district had cut as much spending as it could.

“There is an economic crisis. No one denies that,” Duffy said. “But we need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything that can be cut has and will continue to be cut.”

Board member Yolie Flores said the district needs to be fiscally accountable and ensure that its books are open for public review to ensure people that its money is being spent responsibly. She also said the district should not try to sell the parcel tax to voters as a solution to all of the LAUSD’s financial problems.

“Our cuts are so deep that we can’t pretend that this is going to solve and erase the impact that these cuts will have on our kids for a very long time,” Flores said. “But it will save jobs and it will minimize the increase in classroom size. But I want a commitment from all of us, and however we deliver the message, that we don’t oversell, that we are honest and we tell the truth and we remain on a path of fiscal responsibility.”