#1 - California is not dead last in schools.
California is certainly lower than it should be based on spending, but it is not last either. It’s an absurd statement completely unsupported by any meaningful data. Check the national report card, the census data for education attainment, or any number of widely used statistical compendiums and you will find CA near the 40-43 rank - low yes, dead last, certainly not. Capitalizing it doesn’t make it true.
#2 - Prop 13 works - anything that limits how much $$ the politicians can squeeze out of the public is a good thing.
Californians are not under-taxed by any means. The State doesn’t need more money, it needs to get a handle on spending. Pet projects and political wish list programs are the hallmark of the CA state budget, perhaps even more so than the federal budget.
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Sidenote:
I really truly and honestly get very tired of people who look for reasons to bash California without having any real knowledge of the people or the place.
(You may or may not be one of those people, I don’t know, so apologies in advance if my vent offends.)
Dan Walters wrote an article on school spending in CA that discusses the points that you make.
Sorry, but when you relocate to rural Missouri and your kid has to spend 2 years catching up, like a few adults I know can vouch for, don’t tell me Cali isn’t dead last. When Cupertino schools are considered some of the best in the state, your school system is a joke. Show me any other state that spends as much and performs as poorly, by that measure Cali is indeed absolute dead last.
I know Cali is taxed, rediculously so, but when your schools are funded by prop taxes and you limit tax increases to levels below inflation, enjoy the crap joke of a system you have.