It is evidenced in such policies as state-imposed revenue caps on school districts, severe limits on teacher salaries, a tolerance for larger class sizes, deteriorating school facilities, and inadequate educational resources. This article examines how that type of atmosphere led to the downfall of public education in California. By Anne Waukau WEAC media consultant Welcome to the self-inflicted world of Proposition 13, where quick relief for a select few has been followed by decades of problems and hardships for kids, public schools, and other public services. Overcrowded classrooms with inadequate facilities and staff are dominant in every school district.
School boards have little control over budgets.
This scene has been ongoing in California since June of 1978. That's when homeowners, in reaction to high property taxes, voted by an overwhelming margin for Proposition 13. California classrooms are the most crowded in the country. Many schools operate without libraries, without counselors, without nurses, without art or music, and with greatly diminished curricular offerings. People who bought homes after 1978 had to pay property taxes that reflected the market at the time of their purchase.