Readers React: An LAUSD parcel tax that would also help charters? No thanks, says a teacher

To the editor: This January I spent seven days walking the picket line as a United Teachers Los Angeles member in the pouring rain. I did so with the belief that the strike would begin a much-needed dialogue regarding charter schools and the privatization of public education, and the resulting underfunding of classrooms in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Now I read that school officials have crafted an ill-defined levy on property owners within LAUSD boundaries that would also increase the coffers of those very same independent charters.

While I would gladly vote for a levy to provide much-needed funds to LAUSD classrooms, I did not walk the line in January only to support a tax that will provide increased funding to independent charters. Billionaires can support those private endeavors.

Susan Simon, Los Angeles

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To the editor: LAUSD Board of Education President Monica Garcia said she is “so encouraged that there is an opportunity to bring dollars to the district.” Where does she think these dollars are coming from?

The district is considering raising our property tax by about $537 per parcel. This is an extremely high additional tax burden to impose on so many hardworking or retired property owners.

I would hope that before any measure is put before the voters, the district releases an exhaustive review of how all funds are being spent, and that all manners of reducing expenses have been taken. Continuously raising taxes is not the answer to fixing a broken bureaucracy.

Stephen Esmond, Los Angeles

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