Measure EE: Los Angeles Voters Defeat Parcel Tax for LAUSD

Measure EE was parcel tax proposal that would have raised about $500 million per year for LAUSD. Per the Daily News:

Under Measure EE, commercial property owners would have paid the bulk of the estimated $500 million per year in tax revenue, with an average cost to homeowners of $100 to $450 per year. The measure was written to sunset in 12 years.

The measure was voted down on June 4th: 54.3% no, 45.7% yes. It needed a two-thirds majority vote to pass so it went down in flames.

Interestingly, LAUDS is forecasting that they will have a $576.6 million deficit for the 2019-2020 Fiscal Year. So basically, the $500 million per tax would keep things flat.



We also know via CALmatters (all the way back in June 2018) that a significant portion of this parcel tax would have gone to pay for increased pensions and healthcare costs.

Over the next two years, the district expects its pension and healthcare costs to climb $115 million . . .
With the measure failing, there were a couple post-thoughts on the matter.

Via CalMatters:

In the future, if new school taxes are proposed in Sacramento, Los Angeles or anywhere else, officials shouldn’t try to fool voters with clever buzzwords. They should be honest about their finances, own up to their miscues, own up to pension and health care expenses and stop blaming charter schools for their travails.

Via the LA Times:

Sacks is framing the dark narrative here, the one that says a great deal about race and class in Los Angeles, and about practical and psychic distance between haves and have-nots. Most voters don’t send their kids to L.A. Unified schools, don’t venture into neighborhoods where the challenge for educators is greatest and never see firsthand the promise and possibility in the faces of those 600,000 children, 90% of whom are minorities. 

The LA Times is pulling the racist/guilt card while CalMatters is looking at the budget failures. As mentioned by CalMatters, statewide tax propositions will be hitting in 2020. This vote casts doubt on those propositions passing. Are voters finally wising up to the fact that these tax increases are largely just going to pay for increased pension/healthcare costs?