Prop 13 resulted in a cut in local property tax revenue of $6 Billion. Schools districts lost, on average, half their property tax revenue. In response, the state passed a set of “bailout bills” and, using a surplus of $5 billion, replaced much - but not all - of the funds the schools had lost. Overall, school revenues decreased by up to 15% in wealthy districts and by 9% in lower income districts. The overall result for California schools was that fiscal control moved from local communities to the state.

“It's almost the third rail of California politics because it is perceived as protecting property owners
so much.” James Guthrie, First to Worst

Today, Proposition 13 faces a record number of proposals to weaken it, most rooted in a successful effort in 2000 (Proposition 39) to overturn the initiative's two-thirds super majority requirement to issue bonds. Now legislators are trying to eliminate the super majority for raising sales taxes and to re-jigger some property-tax rules.

However, Proposition 13 remains popular. Nearly 60 percent of adults and 65 percent of homeowners say it has been "mostly a good thing for California," according to a February survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. Among Republicans, support for Proposition 13 tops 76 percent.

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Proposition 98 (1988)
This constitutional amendment, approved in November 1988, guarantees a minimum funding level from state and property taxes for California public schools and junior colleges. Proposition 98 also requires each school to prepare and publicize an annual School Accountability Report Card (SARC) that covers at least 13 required topics, including test scores, dropout rates, and teacher qualifications. A two-thirds vote of the Legislature and a signature from the governor are required to suspend Proposition 98 for a year.

Proposition 39 (2000)
"In the last three years, this state and the people of California have voted for
school bonds totaling $26 billion dollars." John Mockler, First to Worst
Proposition 39 changed the requirements for passing a school construction bond that had been in place since the passing of proposition 13. The proposition, which passed by a majority vote of 53%, authorized bonds for the repair, construction or replacement of school facilities and classrooms, if approved by a 55% local vote. Before Proposition 39 passed, a 2/3s majority vote had been necessary to pass school construction bonds. This super-majority requirement had significantly slowed the building of new schools to meet the tremendous increases in the California student population as a result largely of immigration.

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RESOURCES ON THE WEB

Read Proposition 13 as it is written into the California Constitution For information on how Proposition 13 affects school financing today- Understanding School Finance: California's Complex K–12 System School Finance 2003-04: State Budget Woes Reverberate Through K-12 Education High Expectations, Modest Means: The Challenge Facing California's Public Schools For Better or For Worse? School Finance Reform in California For information on efforts to reform Proposition 13- Cure Prop. 13 'Sickness' by Reassessing Commercial Property, Boosting the Homeowners' Exemption and Cutting the Sales Tax For arguments about the benefits of Proposition 13- Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association California Taxpayers Association Business Property Values: A Look at the Data Proposition 13 Did Not Strangle Local Budgets For information on how businesses are affected by Proposition 13- The Empire Has No Clothes: Infrastructure, Sprawl, Local Government Fianance and the Property Tax Firms’ Prop 13 Savings Coveted, LA Times

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