It’s Time to Put Schools & Communities First by Voting Yes on Prop 15

09.02.20

By Mike Russo, Managing Director

In the middle of the last century, our state forged an intergenerational compact, making significant investments in public education, housing development, and economic opportunity. However, this compact only extended to white Californians. Residents of color were largely excluded from the benefits of these programs.

As people of color became a larger share of our state’s population, they raised just demands to share equally in what was provided to others. The backlash came in initiatives that specifically targeted Californians of color, including ballot measures that created the racist three-strikes system, attempted to deny immigrants the benefit of the taxes they paid, and prevented the state from considering race-conscious solutions to race-based problems.

It also came in the form of disinvestment from the same things that had supported our state’s growth – disinvestment driven, in many cases, by loopholes in our property tax system that allow profitable corporations and wealthy investors to pay much less than their fair share in taxes on commercial and industrial property. Compared to the national average and other states with large, diverse populations like New York, California’s schools invest less in per-pupil spending. This has resulted in California going from among the top ten in the nation in per-pupil spending to the bottom ten and made us last in teacher-student ratios. In response to the politics of scarcity, revenue-starved cities and governments have allocated increasing amounts to policing and jails while neglecting positive investments in communities.

These loopholes have also shifted the economic burden from owners of high-value property to everyday Californians, especially lower-income residents and people of color. For example, fees for community college, which were designed to provide students from all economic backgrounds access to upward social mobility via higher education, have increased dramatically—going from zero cost in 1984 to $50 per unit today.

Now, we are seeing the consequences of these unwise policy decisions all around us. Black and brown communities that have been hit hardest by the COVID pandemic are also the communities that have the least access to the health care and infrastructure they need to get well. The survivors of racist police misconduct are in the streets, voicing their anger at the misplaced priorities that shower disproportionate largesse on law enforcement without demanding accountability while starving communities of the resources they need to thrive.

Proposition 15 will close these unjust loopholes and create a fairer tax system that brings $12B in new funding to our schools, cities, and counties. It will help right historical wrongs and reimagine a California dedicated to justice. Passing Prop 15 will help us come out of the pandemic stronger and fairer than we were when we entered it, while protecting homeowners and small business owners with local control and accountability for the new funding. We are proud to join the broad coalition of racial justice advocates, teachers, parents, faith organizations, community groups, and ordinary Californians working to pass this generational change.

Contact Mike Russo, Managing Director, for more information.

This November, Californians will consider a set of ballot measures that could reshape our state into a more just and equitable society for generations to come. Here are our endorsements, offered to help move California into that better tomorrow: