School Funding

By Jill Wynns

Publis schools in California are under-funded and have been since the short-sighted passage of Proposition 13 in the late seventies. Getting adequate funding for schools is a constant challenge in which we need to engage the entire community.

In San Francisco we are extremely fortunate to have a wonderfully supportive electorate and citizens. Beginning in 1988, as soon as a state proposition allowed local school parcel taxes and bonds to be passed with a two-thirds vote, we began working for local funding to help San Francisco schools. We have passed four bond issues in 1988, 1994, 1997 and 2004. We passed an un-precedented local sales tax for schools twice, once with a majority vote and later had to re-authorize it with a two-thirds vote. A facilities parcel tax, the only Prop B, was passed in 1991 and this year we passed Proposition H to set aside $60 a year of the city's general fund for schools and pre-school. Even though the two most recent initiatives needed only 55% and 50%+1,respectively, to pass, each got over 70% of the vote.

I am proud to have played a central role in each of these campaigns. I have bee the primary spokesperson for many of these initiatives and have had the opportunity to educate the political establishment and the community about the realities of school funding in California. These efforts have raised more than $1.5 billion for San Francisco schools. Is this job done? Not by a long shot. We must not rest until schools have generous funding. Our children and our future deserve no less.

School funding is not a local job alone. We must be aggressive in our pursuit of state and federal funds through professional lobbying and our own advocacy. We have done a good job in the last few years. Our state representatives had called me and other Board members in 1999 and said, "Keep your Superintendent out of Sacramento." now are among our strongest supporters. Unfortunately, term limits mean that we get a new group of legislators every few years and must be ever vigilant in working for our students and their needs.

Proposition H will bring our per pupil funding up to the national average. Average is not enough for our students. If we are to keep excellent teachers and services, we must do whatever it takes to get adequate funding for our schools.