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This past Tuesday, people went out to vote on the special election the Los Angeles Unified School District had over Measure EE. Measure EE would have enacted a parcel tax that allegedly would have brought in more money to the LAUSD.
However, it was announced Wednesday that Measure EE was defeated with only 45.7% of voters voting in favor of the measure.
So what could have led to such a defeat?
Well, the first and most obvious one is that tax payers are becoming skeptical of LAUSD actually spending its funds in a wisely.
On the same day as this special election, San Fernando Valley's District 12 had it's election to vote on who would fill the open seat on the LA City Council. This led to 12.8% of people who voted on Measure EE were from this district and 71.6% of those people voted No.
Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at the California State University, Los Angeles, Raphael Sohenshein, says, "You couldn't imagine worse timing for a ballot measure like this, when the only LA City race going on - with numerous candidates sending mailers trying to get people to the polls - happens to be the district with the largest number of registered voters, a high turnout history and the most conservative record on ballot measures for tax increases".
A spokesman for the opposition campaign of the measure, Matt Klink also said that households in this district were generally larger and would have paid more taxes if the measure had passed.
Now, LAUSD is facing a "quiet crisis".
In reference to the measure's defeat, Mayor Eric Garcetti said, "I'm not worried about me. I'm going to be fine. I'm worried about our children, because they're the ones who won't see progress when fall comes".
It is estimated that LA Unified will spend $577 million more than it can afford this year for some reason. This means that it will be around "$700 million in the red" by the 2021-2022 year.
To read more about the story, check out this Daily News article.
John and Ken talk to Mark Bucher, the CEO of the California Policy Center, about the measure below!