Besides taxes, few solutions at town hall on education
The organizers of what was billed as a town hall-style meeting on education funding in the Marina Thursday said their intention was to have a conversation with the community about solutions to money woes for the coming school year.
But the evening’s talk, moderated by Michael Krasny, host of KQED-FM’s “Forum,” fell short of those expectations for some parents, educators and others in attendance — as evidenced by booing and hissing that punctuated the meeting.
Everyone knew the outlines of the problem: The San Francisco Unified School District is facing cuts of $113 million over the next two years, resulting from lower state subsidies and higher personnel costs.
The panelists, mostly local and state politicians hailing from San Francisco, focused on solutions involving new taxes, rather than cutting programs, jobs or the length of the school year.
- The long list of prominent Democratic figures — including Mayor Gavin Newsom and state legislators Mark Leno, Leland Yee, Tom Ammiano and Fiona Ma — presented a range of new taxes schemes: