Prop 13 Under Attack.... Again!

Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) writes about the recently submitted initiative that will hike property taxes (by increasing parcel taxes) in order to provide more funding for our schools. The Silicon Valley billionaires backing this proposal have actually submitted four versions of the initiative so they can "focus group test" the particulars in an attempt to find the one magic formula that will sell to voters.

Jon Coupal, who is on the front lines fighting to protect Proposition 13 and defend taxpayers, writes eloquently on this issue. I commend his editorial to your attention. While you are at the HJTA webpage, I encourage you to join and support their efforts.

Sneaking Around Proposition 13
By Jon Coupal - Week of December 12, 2005

They're back!A loosely knit band of Silicon Valley's wealthiest is back with a new scheme to increase the burden on property tax payers.

This group is mostly the same billionaire boy's club members that spent $60 million in 2000 on a successful campaign to make it easier to increase property taxes for school bonds, while vigorously defending tax breaks for their own industry. Since then, local districts have successfully passed more than $39 billion in local school bonds, but for these hi-tech industry elites, it's not enough. Now they have filed a new tax hiking initiative that would hit every property owner in the state, although you would never know it from its benign-sounding title.

I get irritated with the big spending "education" lobby in Sacramento (CTA, ACSA, CSBA) who continue to demand more money for our schools claiming that it is the "answer" to improving education in this state. I enjoyed immensely the piece written by Senator Tom McClintock, A Modest Proposal for Saving Our Schools. Senator McClintock illustrates the absurdity in our school financing scheme that robs our children of up-to-date textbooks, good classrooms, clean restrooms and well-paid qualified teachers.

The truth is, our greatest challenges in education transcend the money issue - how much or how little is spent. The greatest challenge is rooted in the breakdown of the family; in a world where there is no parent at home to provide guidance, discipline and help with homework. A world where there are too many "latch key" children; a world that thinks of our schools more as a daycare center than a place of learning. A world of confused morality that exchanges the responsibility (and joy) of parenting children for the desire to drive a Hummer. This is the subject of many other discussions, that I am confident will find their way to this forum.