California's Prop 13 Debacle: Could This Lie in Wisconsin's Future?

The same type of anti-tax, anti-school rhetoric that led to Proposition 13 in California in 1978 may be gaining a foothold in Wisconsin. It is evidenced in such policies as state-imposed revenue caps on school districts, severe limits on teacher salaries, a tolerance for larger class sizes, deteriorating school facilities, and inadequate educational resources. This article examines how that type of atmosphere led to the downfall of public education in California.

By Anne Waukau
WEAC media consultant

Welcome to the self-inflicted world of Proposition 13, where quick relief for a select few has been followed by decades of problems and hardships for kids, public schools, and other public services.

This is a world where:

• Children sell lemonade to keep their public libraries open.
• Overcrowded classrooms with inadequate facilities and staff are dominant in every school district.
• School boards have little control over budgets.

This scene has been ongoing in California since June of 1978. That’s when homeowners, in reaction to high property taxes, voted by an overwhelming margin for Proposition 13.

For people who owned homes, apartment buildings or commercial property in 1978, Proposition 13 essentially rolled back taxes to 1% of assessed levels in 1975, the year before the real estate boom started. People who bought homes after 1978 had to pay property taxes that reflected the market at the time of their purchase. The law requires a two-thirds vote for new taxes.

In the first year alone, homeowners saw their property taxes plummet 57%. However, the billions of dollars in property tax savings have been wiped out by billions of dollars in fees. Also, communities have lost control of their budgets, and more power has been bestowed upon the governor and the state legislature.

What was California like before Proposition 13?

• California was a leader in public education with students ranking in the top five among the states in student assessments.
• In 1969, California ranked in the top 10 states in per-pupil spending for schools.
• Fifty-five percent of the elementary and high school funding was raised locally — mostly from property taxes — and was dispensed by the local school board.

Who were the real winners from Proposition 13?

• A group dubbed the “Seventy-Eighters” who embraced Howard Jarvis’ Proposition 13 by an overwhelming 65%. They have stayed in their homes, and as a result, have avoided paying property taxes that reflect their homes’ current market value. For example, a tax bill on identical homes is about $3,000 for one purchased after 1978, and $300 for one purchased before 1978.
• Big businesses, such as Standard Oil of California, which saved $47 million the first year alone. More than 40% of the property-tax relief has been a windfall for corporations and landlords.

Who are the big losers?

• Children and public schools. California school funding and student achievement have both dropped from the 1970s’ rankings in the nation’s top five, to the 1990 rankings in the bottom 10. As a result, those who can afford it send their children to private schools.

California’s public school classrooms are the most crowded in the country. Many schools operate without libraries, without counselors, without nurses, without art or music, and with greatly diminished curricular offerings.

These results have moved scores of local communities to gather majority votes in favor of bond issues or small per-parcel tax overrides for everything from public safety to public schools. But most have failed to get the two-thirds majority the law requires.

Have the schools hit rock bottom? Judging by test scores and the shape of the facilities, it’s difficult to imagine things getting worse. According to Education Week and EdSource Report:

• California needs more than $11 billion to repair dilapidated school facilities.
• In 1995, California ranked 40th in per-pupil expenditures.
• Less than one-third of the school funding is local. And the districts have little access to alternative revenue sources.
• Class sizes average about 30 students — the highest in the nation.
• California students now rank at the bottom on the national assessment of 4th grade reading achievement.

Are there solutions? Some.

The children of Pasadena decided to take matters into their own hands.

In the summer of 1993, while other libraries were being shut down, or staff and services dramatically cut, those children decided to try to save their local library. They sold lemonade as part of a private, successful campaign to raise $200,000 to keep their public libraries from shutting down.

Although they were a great community effort, the lemonade stands were nothing more than a short-term partial solution and stand as a symbol of the desperate plight faced by California citizens.

Posted March 4, 1997