League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Los Angeles County, CA June 8, 2010 Election
	Measure E Emergency Neighborhood School and Teacher Retention Measure Los Angeles Unified School District Parcel Tax - 2/3 Approval Required Fail: 198,586 / 52.95% Yes votes ...... 176,459 / 47.05% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure E

Arguments Against Measure E

Our local schools face a serious crisis. Local and statewide budget cuts are damaging our schools' ability to provide a higher-quality education for students. Over the past two years, the state legislature has cut $1.3 billion from local schools, and is expected to cut several hundred million dollars more. In total, these unprecedented cuts will have forced our schools to lose more than 8,000 essential school employees, including 4,000 teachers. As a result, class size at every grade level and at every school has increased. Now class sizes in LA Unified neighborhood schools are among the nation's highest. Without additional funds, neighborhood schools will have to make even deeper cuts including reducing the number of school police and truancy officers that keep kids safe, in school, away from gangs and drugs, and make surrounding neighborhoods safer. Also, school nurses, counselors and other school employees essential to student health will be cut. Measure E will provide emergency funding to help our local schools weather this crisis. Measure E will raise the parcel tax for property owners by $100 a year + just $8.33 a month. Measure E is temporary + it ends in four years. Measure E funds will be used to: Teach students the basics: reading, math and science; Restore arts programs that have been cut; Help ensure that all students read at grade level; Improve achievement at every neighborhood school; Protect students by keeping bathrooms clean and schools safe; Maintain vocational and job training programs; and Retain and recruit classroom teachers. EVERY CENT raised by Measure E will be used in our neighborhood schools + it cannot be taken away by Sacramento. NO money from the measure will go towards central district administrators' salaries. Vote YES on Measure E. JAMES REAM President, Los Angeles School Police Association ALTHEA FORD Principal, Beethoven Elementary School RAMON CORTINES Superintendent, LAUSD LEILANI SINCLAIR Calvert Street School PTA JOSE L. NAVARRO IV California Teacher of the Year, Sylmar H.S. Rebuttal to Arguments For Measure E means a big tax increase! Everyone is struggling during these tough times, but good times or bad, the LAUSD bureaucrats want more. If Measure E passes, it will be the 6th time the district has raised taxes in the last 13 years. The LAUSD says the need for more of your money is urgent. Without it, the District will not be able to make ends meet. They want you to feel stingy if you don't agree to give them more. So how much do you think they have to spend? You have probably heard it's about $10,000 per child. But that would be wrong, according to a just released study by the CATO institute. The actual number is over $25,000! Looks like the taxpayers are already extremely generous! (Check for yourself at http://www.cato.org -- the report is called "They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public School.") Why the huge difference between what we hear and what the District actually spends? It's because, like many school districts, the LAUSD excludes whole categories of expenditures that are necessary for schools to function, such as capital costs, debt service, and employee benefits. Don't let the LAUSD bureaucrats take advantage of taxpayers again. Tell them to shape up and do a better job of managing the billions of dollars they already are getting from us. Vote NO on Measure E! JON COUPAL President, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association TREVOR GRIMM Secretary, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

HIGHER TAX ALERT! Homeowners: Can you afford another tax increase? If Measure E passes, your taxes will go up! Renters: Can you afford higher rent? If Measure E passes your landlord could be pressed to raise your rent to pay the tax! Voters have been very generous to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), approving 5 bond measures in the last 13 years, for a total of $20 billion dollars. Many homeowners are now paying hundreds upon hundreds of dollars in higher taxes to repay these bonds... for a massive school construction program that goes forward even though District enrollment has been declining. Now, LAUSD administrators what you to pay even more. At a time when unemployment is well over 12% and home foreclosures are at record highs, the last thing struggling taxpayers need is higher taxes. Don't be fooled. The LAUSD bureaucrats always want more. Why? A.J. Duffy, president of the teachers union, said it best when he spoke to the Los Angeles Daily News last year. "This district has lived high on its hog for 10 to 12 years, while continuing to raise administrative and supervisory personnel even while student populations were going down," Duffy said. "Now it's coming back to harm them." These are tough times for everyone, especially taxpayers. Don't raise your taxes to bail out the LAUSD bureaucrats again. Vote NO on Measure E! JON COUPAL President, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association TREVOR GRIMM Secretary, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Rebuttal to Arguments Against Unprecedented state budget cuts beyond the control of our local schools have and will result in massive cuts to our local schools + with thousands of job losses, including teachers and other essential school employees, cutting essential school services and increasing class sizes. Measure E will help our local schools survive these drastic state budget cuts. Measure E is affordable -- just $100 per parcel a year; $8.33 a month. Low-income seniors will be exempt. Measure E is an emergency measure, designed to help our local schools through the current state budget crisis. Measure E will expire after 4 years and cannot be renewed without voter approval. Measure E will help our local economy. Investing in neighborhood schools maintains local home and property values. Measure E guarantees annual performance and financial audits to ensure that all spending is only on voter-approved classroom needs. Not one cent from Measure E will go to downtown administrators. Funds will go directly to support local classrooms, prevent layoffs, and class size increases. Superintendent-initiated reform efforts reduced the size of the central district office and promoted local control to create community-directed neighborhood schools. This includes sending funds directly to neighborhood schools, giving parents, teachers, and principals more decision-making control over how to improve education in their neighborhood schools. Please help our local schools survive this crisis. Vote YES on Measure E. FORD ROOSEVELT President, Project GRAD Los Angeles JILL BANKS BARAD Neighborhood Council Leader, San Fernando Valley VICTORIA RIERDAN HURLEY Co-Executive Director, MOMS UNITE ROBERTO GONZALEZ Milken Educator Award Recipient Virgil Middle School, Los Angeles ESTHER SOLIMAN Principal, Los Angeles High School of the Arts