Letter: Prop 30 is a start

Thank you for printing this informative letter from the Superintendent of SB High School. As an opponent of Prop 13 way back when, I guess I can accept the disastrous results — “California is at the bottom of states in K-12 expenditures, both overall and as a share of personal income”; and “California spends about $9,000 per student, while New York, New Jersey and Connecticut spend $17,000 per student”; and “funding disparities lead to large inequalities in teacher and principal salaries and working conditions … teacher salaries vary by a ratio of 3 to 1”; “Given the above, only 28 percent of students now graduate from a four-year college, far below the national average”.
So, democracy doesn’t always work very well. I know that property taxes were going up, and this was affecting retirees especially. But there were other less self-inflicting wounds than Prop 13. The rush to stop the tax bleeding has destroyed the best school system in the nation.  I and my brothers and sisters got the advantage of that old system. The question today is, how to get back to where we were. While there is more to that question than taxes, it seems undeniable that getting our income taxes raised is a major part of the answer. I certainly hope that all those who, with me, very much regret our loss of our “best in America’s school system” will accept Governor Brown’s recommended Proposition 30 as a starter.
Richard B. Morris, San Juan Bautista