Free Republic

Barely two months since Los Angeles Unified School District officials duped the area's generous voters into signing away an additional $7 billion of their money for a vague school-improvement plan, the officials are at it again. That's right. In the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, officials who have secured about $22 billion in construction bonds from property owners in the district in recent years are thinking of passing the hat again. So what's this new measure for? More buildings? Technology? Maintenance? School lunches for poor kids? Nope, the district wants a parcel tax to pay for operating expenses...

California voters will be asked whether they want to raise property taxes by $50 per parcel under an initiative that qualified Friday for the November ballot. The measure would generate about $500 million a year by taxing commercial and residential property. Elderly and disabled people would be exempt. The money could be used only for specific purposes, such as reducing class sizes, buying textbooks and improving school safety. The measure is being funded by two Silicon Valley executives. Reed Hastings, the Netflix founder who was once a member of the state board of education, has given nearly $7 million to...

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...

Los Angeles Unified board members today will consider putting both a $3.85 billion construction bond and a $150-a-year parcel tax on the Nov. 8 special election ballot to pay for programs to boost the quality of instruction. While most board members said they support both measures, some question going to voters with two tax-hike requests at the same time. "I'm really torn," board member Jon Lauritzen said. "Most of the board members have serious reservations not so much about the need for the bond, but about the timing. It's going to be an interesting discussion." The construction bond -- which...

Homeowners would be hit with a $150 annual "parcel tax" to help fund Los Angeles public schools -- on top of the hundreds of dollars they already pay annually for construction -- under a proposal introduced Tuesday. Under the draft plan, the tax would be in effect for six years, and the funds would be intended for use to reduce class sizes, improve libraries, bolster campus safety and provide more nurses and counselors. The proposal would be the first time the Los Angeles Unified School District would ask voters to approve such a fee and comes as the nation's second-largest...

Small class sizes in kindergarten through third grade are a big hit with parents and teachers alike. Some school districts need added security measures. And students don't want to give up electives such as art and music. But with the state facing an $8 billion to $10 billion budget deficit in the next year, at least half a dozen Silicon Valley school districts are asking residents to tax themselves in the November election to help their schools avoid drastic cuts that directly affect learning. The parcel tax initiatives range from $50 a parcel annually in the East Side Union High...