Prop. 13 needs reform for schools’ sake

By Gillian Garaci, San Francisco| 1/15/2023

Re. “California’s Proposition 13 battle enters a new phase,” Page A6, Jan. 6:

The recent discussions of Proposition 13 have completely ignored its devastating and lasting impact on our schools, especially for marginalized students.

As a person of color immigrant who attended public high school, community college and is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, I can firmly say that my education was negatively impacted by underfunding.It’s interesting to see how accepted and easily published this vilification of taxation is. But we never talk about the huge burden Proposition 13 put on the backs of our students. Every year it’s estimated we lose billions of dollars that should be going to our public schools from commercial properties alone. A recent legislative fix would recoup up to $12.5 billion a year.

Proposition 13 has robbed so many from my generation; and so many more future Californians will experience teacher shortages, the lack of extracurricular programs and overcrowded classrooms because of Proposition 13. People need to consider all the effects Proposition 13 has created for Californians.