¡Prop 13 Is Not About Property Tax! (But It Is About Funding Schools)
In 1978 Californians voted to limit their personal tax liability. The ballot initiative approved at that time was titled and summarized by the CA Secretary of State as “Proposition 13, Tax Limitations Initiative (1978)”. Click here for a terrific retrospective (or primer, depending on your age).
This is not the Proposition 13 on March 3, 2020’s primary ballot.
We are currently voting (yes, the vote has started already, and will be ongoing now through 3/3/20) on a ballot initiative to authorize $15b in bonds for school and educational facilities throughout California. This current state measure is also termed “Proposition 13”, but its official summary title is “School And College Facilities Bond (2020)”.
While it is true this Proposition 13 will cost taxpayers money ($750m spread over 35 years in exchange for $15b to use for immediate costs now), indeed our schools are crumbling and in dire need of infrastructural attention. Where once California’s schools were the pride of the nation, draw of the world; today they are among the worst-funded K12 schools and the allure of our post-secondary institutions is also at risk. We cannot just let the infrastructural surrounds of Pat Brown’s seminal vision of Education melt CONTINUE READING: ¡Prop 13 Is Not About Property Tax! (But It Is About Funding Schools) – Los Angeles Education Examiner
