Does more money mean better schools?

Classrooms have been modified to allow for the return of students at White Oak Elementary School in Westlake Village Thursday. Las Virgenes Unified has become the first school district in Los Angeles County to be granted waivers to reopen schools for students in transitional kindergarten through the second grade.

All nine of its elementary schools plan to welcome its youngest learners back to campus for half-day sessions starting Nov. 9. (photo by Andy Holzman) It’s by no means certain that California voters will pass Proposition 15, but if they do, it would be the largest tax increase in the state’s history.

That said, it would provide a relatively small down payment on the long-standing desire of the state’s educational establishment for a massive increase in spending that’s needed, advocates say, to improve California’s rather dismal K-12 educational outcomes.

Proposition 15, largely sponsored by the California Teachers Association and other public employee unions, would increase property taxes on some commercial real estate, such as office buildings and hotels, by requiring their taxable values to be upgraded more often. Estimates of its effects vary somewhat, but generally are in the $10 billion to $12 billion per year range, with schools getting […]

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