Bond fatigue and school choice

By Larry Sand
03/17/2020
Californians nix school bonds as Florida’s parental choice program expands. It looks like California’s Prop.13, a $15 billion school construction bond, has been defeated. This is notable because voters had not rejected a bond of this nature since 1994. Additionally, supporters raised $10 million for the campaign, while opponents spent 1/40th of that amount –...

TAGS: Greg Forster, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jon Coupal, Larry Sand, Measure EE, Prop. 13, school choice, teachers union

Taxing Californians’ patience

By Larry Sand
12/31/2019
The new Prop. 13, very much unlike the iconic original, hurts taxpayers. There is yet another potential tax grab coming to California in the form of a school bond, which will be on the March 3rd ballot. The ironically named Prop. 13, a “School and College Facilities Bond,” would authorize $15 billion in general obligation...

TAGS: California State Teachers Retirement System, Dan Walters, Jon Coupal, Katy Grimes, Larry Sand, Measure EE, Prop. 13, Richard Rider, Transparent California

Los Angeles Unified School Dysfunction

By Larry Sand
04/16/2019
More bad news from the nation’s second largest school district. According to a report released last week, less than half of the 2019 Los Angeles Unified School District graduating class will be eligible to attend one of the state’s public universities. There are 15 essential “A–G” courses, including English, math, and science that students need...

TAGS: Austin Beutner, Charter schools, credit recovery classes, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jon Coupal, Larry Sand, Los Angeles Unified School District, Nick Melvoin, parcel tax, Taxifornia, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

LAUSD’s punishing parcel tax proposal

By Jon Coupal
03/25/2019
America’s most dysfunctional school district has stepped in it again. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), apparently coming to the shocking realization that there was no way they could pay for the horrible deal they just cut with the unions, has hurriedly placed on the ballot for June a new property tax that leaves...

TAGS: HJTA, Jon Coupal, LA County, LAUSD, pensions, teachers, UTLA

Government Unions Run Sacramento

By Jon Coupal
06/06/2018
June 6 marks the 40th anniversary of voters’ overwhelming approval of Proposition 13, which has been protecting all California taxpayers ever since. Some people mistakenly think Prop. 13 protects only homeowners, because it cut the property tax rate statewide to 1 percent and put a stop to uncontrolled increases in assessed value. But it did...

TAGS: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jon Coupal, public sector unions

Problems With California’s ‘Secure Choice’ Pension Plan

By Jon Coupal
03/05/2017
Editor’s Note: In this article, author Jon Coupal describes most of the problems with California’s “Secure Choice” pension plan for private sector workers, but he omits a big one: The plan is designed using realistic financial assumptions, i.e., relatively high contribution rates and relatively low rate-of-return assumptions, and a very modest retirement benefit formula. Put another...

TAGS: California pensions, Jon Coupal, pensions

For Tax Raisers, End of Drought Is Bad News

By Jon Coupal
01/24/2017
Editor’s Note: Anyone who thinks the drought is NOT over should read this weather blog – more authoritative than ANYTHING coming out of the mainstream press. View the graphics, all of them from official sources, depicting California’s current (1) percentage of normal precipitation, (2) soil moisture, (3) streamflow, (4) Sierra snowpack, (5) “Palmer drought index”,...

TAGS: California drought, California taxes, Jon Coupal