Letter: Public is at last waking up to the harm that Prop. 13 did

Public at last seeing harm
Prop. 13 did to students

Re: “Walters: One tax measure is out, but change to Prop. 13 possible” (Opinion section, Eastbaytimes.com, Dec. 12):

After 41 years of strangled school budgets, the public is finally awakening to the harm done to K-12 students since 1978, when unearned benefits were unfairly given to large corporations through property tax loopholes.

Pundits love to speculate over fates of measures at the ballot box intended to correct such unfairness, but parents, teachers and entire communities can’t afford such frivolous pastimes. Parents, teachers and entire communities are heartbroken when students can’t read by the third grade, can’t do math to figure out the correct cost of a purchase or have such limited knowledge of the world that they are confused by the language of ballot measures designed to mislead them.

Thanks to the internet, however, and public libraries, voters can at least go to www.votersedge.org, an easy-to-use, nonprofit guide for voters. Maybe they can also read the unhelpful columns pundits write about them – if they have time!

Ruby MacDonald
El Cerrito

 

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