“Education Finance Districts” Headed to the Governor at californiascapitol.com
Awaiting a final vote on the Assembly floor is legislation aimed at making it easier for school districts to raise local revenue.
The measure, AB 267, was sent to the Assembly Sept. 3 by the 40-member Senate, which approved it on a party line 23 to 14 vote. The Assembly is expected to send the bill to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before Sept. 11, the end of the 2009 legislative session.
While it does not lower the two-thirds voter approval necessary to raise taxes both at the state and local level, the bill creates “education finance districts” in which three or more contiguous school districts can band together to try to increase local taxes.
After agreeing on how to divide and spend any new tax revenue, the districts could then collectively place a parcel tax on the ballot for voter approval.
Under current law, only individual school districts can attempt to increase parcel taxes within their district boundaries.
“Our schools are being starved for funding, and communities must be able to act to ensure that the education of our children doesn’t suffer,” said Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, an Antioch Democrat, the bill’s author and a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction in 2010.
“This measure brings local communities together so they can take their case for funding directly to their voters.”
Awaiting a final vote on the Assembly floor is legislation aimed at making it easier for school districts to raise local revenue.
The measure, AB 267, was sent to the Assembly Sept. 3 by the 40-member Senate, which approved it on a party line 23 to 14 vote. The Assembly is expected to send the bill to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before Sept. 11, the end of the 2009 legislative session.
While it does not lower the two-thirds voter approval necessary to raise taxes both at the state and local level, the bill creates “education finance districts” in which three or more contiguous school districts can band together to try to increase local taxes.
After agreeing on how to divide and spend any new tax revenue, the districts could then collectively place a parcel tax on the ballot for voter approval.
Under current law, only individual school districts can attempt to increase parcel taxes within their district boundaries.
“Our schools are being starved for funding, and communities must be able to act to ensure that the education of our children doesn’t suffer,” said Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, an Antioch Democrat, the bill’s author and a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction in 2010.
“This measure brings local communities together so they can take their case for funding directly to their voters.”
