蜜桃影视

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With last Tuesday’s school board election in Los Angeles delivering a for public education firebrand Jackie Goldberg, next month鈥檚 parcel tax vote is now center stage.

L.A. Unified’s next election 鈥� about two weeks away, on June 4 鈥� will ask residents within district boundaries to support , a tax of 16 cents per square foot of developed property to raise about $500 million annually for the district. L.A. Unified is in three years and is at risk of a county takeover if it can’t stay out of the red. If Measure EE passes with at least a two-thirds majority vote, it would start generating revenue later this year.

Goldberg, whose campaign mantra underscored , quickly rallied her supporters Tuesday night to get out the vote to pass Measure EE. 鈥淲e need a movement to make the changes we need,鈥� Goldberg, who was backed by United Teachers Los Angeles, said Tuesday night in a posted by Kyle Stokes of KPCC and LAist. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why, as soon as this campaign ends, we鈥檙e starting tomorrow on EE.鈥�

Board President M贸nica Garc铆a had told LA School Report on May 13 that the first priority for the new board member would be helping to get the measure passed. “There’s an opportunity to help us get her supporters out for Measure EE. There is an opportunity for that person to support more dollars going to school sites,” Garc铆a said. “So that person gets to choose: Do we want to strengthen bureaucracy, or do we want to continue on the path of empowering leaders in the field?”

The parcel tax has been a unique point of common ground for UTLA and the district, which have long clashed over whether聽L.A. Unified is in . Measure EE is the current epicenter of a movement to boost L.A. schools’ funding after years of at the state level. Calls for more money intensified leading up to January’s teacher strike and continued throughout the school board race. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was instrumental in ending the strike, has also been for the parcel tax.

The six current board members unanimously Measure EE in late February. The tax is progressive, meaning businesses and corporations would shoulder the brunt of the tax burden. Most homeowners would pay between per year; Measure EE would not interfere with existing or new rent stabilization ordinances. There would also be exemptions for senior citizens and those relying on disability payments.

The tax would be in effect for 12 years.

Passing Measure EE is not a slam dunk, however. A less costly parcel tax already to pass in 2010, and the school board another from the ballot in 2012. A聽 on the heels of January鈥檚 teacher strike showed roughly 70 percent approval for a per-square-foot parcel tax,聽just聽above the two-thirds vote required to pass.

Measure EE has also faced , notably from business and taxpayer organizations who reform has to come first and who don’t believe the ballot language will ensure revenue is spent in the classrooms.

Board District 4’s Nick Melvoin LA School Report last month that people鈥檚 reservations about district accountability aren鈥檛 “crazy.” To help assuage concerns, the board passed a that would establish an independent taxpayer oversight committee for the parcel tax revenue.

But he added that he reminds residents who are voting next month “to be honest with themselves about where they stood during the strike.”

“There are a lot of people who were yelling … to do whatever the teachers wanted and not wanting to listen to the other side, which was that we didn鈥檛 have the money, who now are saying, 鈥榃ell, I don鈥檛 support the tax.鈥�” he said. “To say, 鈥楪ive the teachers all that they want鈥� and then say, 鈥極h, but we鈥檙e not going to support you in the parcel tax鈥� is kind of contradictory.鈥�

The latest contest to Measure EE is a filed May 7聽from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association to block the tax. The suit says Superintendent Austin Beutner ordered a significant change to Measure EE’s ballot language 鈥� from encompassing to 鈥� after the board had already voted on it. That change could subject a broader range of properties to the tax, going 鈥渂eyond the scope of what the board voted for,” Pasadena-based attorney Kevin Moore .

A board passed that same day confirmed that the tax would exclude parking lots and garages. A judge nonetheless allowed the lawsuit to move forward, with a hearing date set for June 6 鈥� two days after the vote. The hearing would 聽determine if June 4鈥檚 election results should be certified.

Measure EE supporters like Garc铆a don鈥檛 appear fazed. “Measure EE, board races, the work that L.A. Unified does is very, very important,” Garc铆a said. “The Olympics are coming in 2028; those are our third-graders. The class of 鈥�32 is coming as of July 1; they’re in our kindergarten. I think I would just encourage all parts of civic life to recognize the impact that L.A. Unified has on our families and our community.

“When we get it right, we change the world,” she added. 鈥淎nd so I know the best is yet to come.”

The voter registration deadline for this election is May 20. For more information, .

Esmeralda Fabi谩n Romero contributed to this report.

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