L.A. school board to weigh $100 parcel tax Tuesday [Updated]

Los Angeles school officials are scheduled to decide Tuesday whether to put a parcel tax on the June ballot as an emergency response to an ongoing budget crisis.

The measure would tax each property owner $100 annually for four years, offsetting a portion of budget deficits that could still result in employee layoffs, increased class sizes and possibly a school year with five fewer instructional days.

[Updated at 5:10 p.m. Tuesday: The Board of Education has voted 5 to 1 in favor of putting a parcel tax on the June ballot.]

Recent polling for the measure showed support strong enough to win, but caveats abound. For one thing, positive polling in some other school systems led them to try for a parcel tax, which voters subsequently failed to approve. A parcel tax requires a two-thirds majority to become law.

The school districts that have fallen short tend to look more like L.A. Unified than those that have succeeded. That is, small, prosperous enclaves have had better luck with parcel taxes than larger school systems with a broad distribution of family income from rich to poor.

L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said in an interview Monday that members of the elected school board have mixed feelings over whether to put a parcel tax before voters. But he insisted that the need is dire.

The tax would raise about $92.5 million a year, but the district has an estimated a deficit of $640 million for next year.

In other words, Cortines said, a successful parcel tax would make a bad situation somewhat less bad, which he acknowledged is a “tough sell” for voters.

-- Howard Blume

Comments

[avocats]

Wow, did the Superintendent get his math education in the LAUSD? He's got a $600 million deficit and he's asking for $92 million? Not that the measure will pay anyway, of course . . . .

[Living in a house in LA]

No, my vote would be no.

I am sick of politicians thinking of homeowners as their bank to draw from, they tax us extra on everything anyway.

What would LAUSD do if half the kids didn't drop out? Would they have double the budget problems?

[unfair]

Talk about unfair taxing!!! I own property and becuase of that you want me to pay for the renters kids??? Why not just tax the parents who kids go to school. Call it a user tax. Seems more fair.

[T Allen]

It is time to remove the entire school board for LAUSD. The Board and Dr. Cortenes make too much money in salary, and have abused their positions of authority. We need a school board that is dedicated to the actual education of the children of this community, not a bunch of political hacks interested in blaming all of the problems on teacher who work way too many hours for the students, and spend their own money for copying and supplies.
Dump the LAUSD School Board and their hired contractors now!

[Hugo W Merida]

I am disgusted and tired of the L.A. School District poor planning of public funds. Through the years we have seen in every election at least one initiative for a bond or tax related to benefit the school systems.
Members of UTLA and school district administrators including Superintendent Cortines, will take their pleadings to the streets and to the media as usual, to get THEIR initiatives approved to continue the mismanagement. Hundred of millions of dollars has been and are spent in school construction to plan for "the future".
Los Angeles School Board of Education better wake up and see that taxpayers are loosing their jobs, properties are going into foreclosures and business are closing.

It will be very hard for us to accept another tax increase, specially when we continue to see the construction of school Taj Mahals like the one 3400 Wilshire Bl.

Hugo W. Merida - Chairman
LOS ANGELES HISPANIC CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

[Tax Revolt]

Another LAUSD tax? Enough is enough. As a property owner, I am tired of bearing the burden for UTLA's insatiable appetite for more money. You don't put out a house fire by feeding it more fuel, so why are we feeding more money into a system that everyone complains is so inefficient?

[Lornaj]

Property owners will be the ones taking the Hit. We are already paying for schools bonds. Cortines, and the school board should start charging parents that are not paying property taxes. These people continue to push our budgets to the limits to balance their budgets. LAUSD continues to waste money and want us to give them more. Property owners are hurting as well as anyone else in this mess. No one is giving us anything, and we are getting hit right, and left. Cortines, and school board are the people that the Mayor; and his friends put in.

[Dave A]

It really is time to move out of this tax-happy state, isn't it? Unreal. People are losing jobs right and left and all the morons who run state, city, and school bureaucracies can come up with is to raise taxes more and put the burden on every one but them.

I've got an idea, School Board: pay-cuts for you and layoffs for your staffs. If you're not directly involved in teaching children in a classroom, or maintaining the safety of the facilities, you don't deserve a job in the schools.

[Bruno]

Why not put a proposal on the June ballot to break apart the LAUSD. Each city that is currently part of this corrupt institution would get its own district. Each of LA's council districts should likewise have their own district with the district's councilman accountable for success or failure of the schools.

Time to end the dysfunction and break this bureaucracy apart.

[teezing]

I work for LAUSD and I will not vote for them to get another red cent of my money to mismanage. They really need to look themselves in the mirror and come up with a better solution than balancing their budget on the backs of working people while they sit downtown not contributing one bit to a solution to the mess that they have created other than giving schools....that our tax and bond money paid for by the way...to undeserving inept corporate entities that think they know how to run a school

[Lornaj]

LAUSD use to be in Education Business, but it is in the money business now. We are getting tired of being taxed to death, and we will have a tax revolt. We are not made of money, and we cannot continue to have our budgets out of balance. Why we are not going to have our families go without because of their incompetence.

[Yankee]

Why in hell should we reward cortines and the school board for mismanaging the educational process. Let's get rid of them they add no value to the process-just blockage and mismanagement.
We need leaders that can see beyond their noses.

[Outside In]

While Roman is burning cortines is double dipping the education of our children. Yeah, cortines double dipping is an ethical issue. Let's get a leader not a for profit only-man.

[Mufon]

The amount isn't much, but that's not the issue. As with other government entities, there is no accountability. The LAUSD has spent amazing amounts paying for "consultants." However, they are financially mired in red, school improvement is minimal if at all, and now they're cutting the school year. I've no problem with funding education, but the district has proven itself a bottomless pit.

[mehman]

lol, this is so moronic it's nauseous - reward the homeless and TAX the homeowners (btw, you get a tax refund if you BUY a house nowadays). As if foreclosures weren't already on the rise and home sales down and plumetting.

[kuruc]

well, the parents of the students can't afford houses so the property tax raise will not affect them directly. these parents are mostly very poor people, might not be in the country legally. the school board needs the money, for the next 4 years.the only ones with money are the homeowners, so what's a $100 a year more?not too much to support the children.

[John]

Hell will freeze over before any parcel tax, any parcel tax whatsoever passes in the upcoming elections that will see Democrat gains dwindle now that the euphoria of Obama is wearing thinner and thinner, day by day. Propping up LAUSD with more money is not the answer to our kids' education. LAUSD needs to be broken up into smaller, more efficient and more accountable pieces. Our kids deserve so much better than they currently get, while the management heavy LAUSD sucks up all the resources. Let's have a little change we can believe in, and let's terminate LAUSD and start giving kids a chance.

[Kelly]

How about charging people that actually have kids in school the $100 per year? This is ridiculous. I am not even a property owner and this still makes me mad!

[R W Knotts]

Why not charge parents $500 each child that you are teaching

For poor people make them work @ school for payment

[Jason Cross]

Taxing the LA City property owners every time the city and LAUSD needs money needs to stop, and it will stop if voters get out and VOTE NO on any new taxes. We need to send a clear message to the bureaucrats that taxing us to fix their mess is unacceptable. There is too much incompetence at city hall.

[RWh]

It is a done deal. All they can do is think of new ways to tax the electorate. If you think it is going to be temporary, you are kidding yourself. They expect to raise 92.5 million per year but the deficit amount is 400 million....does not compute. They know they need more but think if they do it in small pieces, we'll swallow it.
How about putting a 10-15% tax on monies sent by immigrants to their homelands to pay to educate their kids.

[No More Taxes!]

"Recent polling for the measure showed support strong enough to win..."

Hmm, I wonder if that has anything to do with how the question was posed? Let's bet it was "Are you in favor of increasing taxes by a mere $13.33 a month to help our schools and teachers?", and not "Are you willing to throw another $400 of your hard-earned money into a black hole of mismanagement and waste for underperforming schools full of the children of illegal immigrants?".

Live within your means, LAUSD!Los Angeles voters, show some common sense for once and vote "NO" if this foolishness makes the ballot!

[Tornadoes28]

The school board just keeps coming back and asking for more money. It never ends. It's their mismanagement that is the problem.

[citizen of Los Angeles]

No,no I can't afford the taxes I have to pay now. I'm not the school's boards cash cow. I did not get a $100 raise.

[Dan]

Bond money was spent wisely because oversight was built into the spending process. The elected Board of Education was not able to provide the oversight because of the specialized nature of facility construction so outside overseers were brought in to make the decisions..and it worked. A parcel tax with its inherent local control could be a good think with appropriate oversight...obviously the present Board of Education is unable to do that because their only answer is to give the problem to someone else...i.e. charters and other reformers.