Thursday, July 5, 2012

Pass / Fail : Molly Munger, who proposed and funded 'Our Children, Our Future,' pitches plan for California education | 89.3 KPCC

Pass / Fail : Molly Munger, who proposed and funded 'Our Children, Our Future,' pitches plan for California education | 89.3 KPCC:


Molly Munger, who proposed and funded 'Our Children, Our Future,' pitches plan for California education

Munger Education



It may be an issue campaign, but voters might have trouble distinguishing two November tax initiatives from a candidate skirmish. Wealthy Pasadena lawyer Molly Munger is the author of one ballot measure that would raise taxes for public schools. Gov. Jerry Brown is behind the other.

The differences between the two surfaced last week when Munger  spoke about her initiative to the influential forum Town Hall Los Angeles.

The talk took place in an aging, wood-paneled boardroom on the 51st floor of a downtown L.A. high rise. Four decades ago, it was home to the opulent headquarters of ARCO, the oil company. Like the largely vacant space, Molly Munger contends, public education in California is a shadow of its former self.

“Now we’re 47th in the country in our per-pupil funding and you go on to these campuses and you see 50 kids in