Blog note: this opinion piece references an Alameda County Grand Jury report on school financing.
California officials can be slow learners.
They keep offering the same old “solutions” — raising property taxes to boost school systems that already consume more than 40 percent of the state’s general fund. Voters, however, finally may be getting fed up with higher tax burdens that never lead to tangible improvements in public services.
In June, Los Angeles voters rejected Measure EE, which would have increased parcel taxes to pay for smaller classes and more staff for the ever-dysfunctional Los Angeles Unified School District. The 16-cent-per-square-foot tax proposal needed a two-thirds majority to pass and yet it garnered a 54-percent “no” vote. That was a firm rebuke.
The problem with passing the tax bailout, as a CityWatchLA article explained, “is that it does nothing to address the endemic dysfunction and corruption that over decades has enabled LAUSD administration … to put bureaucratic interests and profit above” its main goal of “educating students.” Yet the establishment never seems to learn.
Now, unions helped qualify a measure for the 2020 ballot that would undermine Proposition 13’s tax protections for commercial property. It would reassess most commercial properties based on market value, thus increasing revenue to schools and local governments by as much as $10.5 billion annually.
If it passes, 40 percent of business owners may consider relocating outside of California and 35 percent may consider cutting payroll costs, according to a new Los Angeles County Business Federation poll. None of those outcomes would be good for the health of Los Angeles or its school system.
These problems are not only in Los Angeles. A recent Alameda County grand jury found that the Oakland Unified School District was plagued by “administrative ineptitude, wasted money and nepotism in what jurors called a ‘What’s in it for me?’ culture,” as the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
More tax money will only lead to business as usual. California officials need to spend as much time implementing school and governmental reforms as they do seeking new sources of revenue. Until that happens, expect voters to keep rejecting these misguided tax-hiking measures.
July 7, 2019
Los Angeles Daily News
By the Editorial Board
No comments:
Post a Comment