Tuesday was a bad day for the 120 local school bond measures and 28 parcel taxes ... it’s evident already that a historically high percentage of bonds and parcel taxes will fail. https://t.co/1MM5FC5KWY
— HJTA.org (@HJTA) March 7, 2020
Ballots are still being counted but as of right now, a substantial majority of Californians are rejecting the "Prop. 13" school bond. Have taxpayers finally had enough? https://t.co/W5IRaFuJMK
— HJTA.org (@HJTA) March 7, 2020
California voters appear to have rejected the first statewide school bond measure since 1994.
“Voters will approve this bond because voters historically approve school bonds,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom last year upon signing legislation to place the measure on the ballot.
As of this writing Proposition 13 on the March 3 ballot received just 44.6 percent of votes in favor, with 55.4 percent opposed.
The $15 billion school bond, pitched to voters as necessary to ensure school facilities are up to standard for safety reasons, was loaded with various provisions of legitimate concern to taxpayers.
One is that the measure, like other bonds, entails massive waste of public resources. The total cost of the $15 billion isn’t $15 billion, but $27 billion when interest costs of the bond are factored in.
But the other problem is that the measure sought to raise bond debt limits for school districts, allowing them to propose bigger bond measures in the future.
These local measures would come at the cost to local property owners; the raised debt limits would incentivize local districts to propose bigger bond measures.
Californians reject "Prop. 13" bond. https://t.co/WGHxdZmefJ
— HJTA.org (@HJTA) March 4, 2020
Ignore deceptive advertising. Vote NO on 13 -- it will allow school districts to issue nearly double the debt that current law allows, and that will RAISE local property tax bills. Here's the NO on 13 site from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association: https://t.co/fRlYUyj8j2
— Susan Shelley (@Susan_Shelley) March 2, 2020