Guest Opinion | Michael Vogler: Vote No on PUSD Measures EE and R

We all want an effective and high-quality public education system for our children and support adequate funding to get there.  Indeed, the PUSD already spends more per student than 80 percent of California Public School Districts.  For instance, the PUSD spends almost 50 percent more per student than Burbank Unified School District.  Although the PUSD has 543 fewer students than Burbank Unified, the PUSD spends $88 million per year more than Burbank Unified.  The results of this massive spending difference?  While 54 percent of Burbank 6th grade students can perform math at grade level, only 35 percent of PUSD 6th grade students can perform math at grade level.

PUSD advocates have claimed that the PUSD’s very low test scores are a function of a disproportionate amount of socioeconomically disadvantaged and disabled students.  However, Burbank Unified outperforms the PUSD for those same categories of students at every tested grade level. Homeless students and English learners all perform better at Burbank Unified than at the PUSD.

For the 2022-2023 school year, the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress shows that  66% of PUSD students could not perform math at grade-level, and 55% did not meet English Language Arts grade level standards.

How can this be when the PUSD significantly outspends most other public school districts?   The obvious answer is that money is not the problem here because the PUSD isn’t producing positive results with the large amount of extra money it already receives from your tax dollars.  Failure to adequately educate our children for future success must not be rewarded with your dollars, especially considering the already high cost of living.

Despite the District’s failure, the PUSD wants to impose the largest property tax increase in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre history, and there is no guarantee that those tax dollars will end up in the classroom to improve our children’s education.  In fact, Measure R authorizes the District to build subsidized housing for PUSD employees with “all related amenities and facilities”.  The PUSD Board has voted to construct new luxury apartments for District employees at market rate discounts of up to 77%, paid for by you.   Indeed, luxury one-bedroom apartments that would normally rent for $2,700 per month will be offered to staff for as low as $600 a month in rent.  (Source: PUSD Board meeting dated August 29, 2024, Item M.5). The PUSD proposes to increase your housing costs to lower the housing costs of its own employees.

Voters approved massive PUSD tax increases in 2008 and again in 2020 to fund our public schools.  At the time, the $516 million 2020 tax increase was the largest in history.  The PUSD hasn’t issued, much less spent, $373 million of that amount.  Yet the operators of the District want even more of your money, while continuing to fail our kids.

Now, just four years later the PUSD wants another $900 million of your money.   With interest, the PUSD estimates the costs to taxpayers will be $1.6 billion under Measure R.  In addition, the PUSD states it plans to further assess taxpayers with an additional $600 million in principal and interest from new Measure O borrowing (in addition to $400 million outstanding from old bond principal and interest).  That’s $2.2 BILLION in new borrowing, which you get to pay for with even higher real estate taxes.

These new taxes will add hundreds of dollars annually to property tax bills for decades which means homeowner’s and renter’s housing costs will increase considerably and the annual expenses of supermarkets, retail stores, office buildings and commercial facilities will skyrocket which will be passed on to you, the consumer.  A new tax to reward education failure is not the answer, particularly when everyone is already struggling to get by.

The PUSD WASTES OUR MONEY.

Once again, District bureaucrats and defenders of the failed status quo want taxpayers to bail out a school district with a history of red ink, appalling education results, declining enrollment, runaway administrative hiring and exploding retirement and health care costs. They even want to use your money to build housing for themselves.

The PUSD continues to shortchange local children with poor student achievement scores in English and math, low graduation rates and declining enrollment.  DON’T BE FOOLED.  Money from these new taxes won’t translate into increased student performance.  Measure EE will be used to temporarily fix a budget deficit caused by ever increasing administrative costs and over- promised pension and health insurance costs.  Measure R is little more than a disguised way for the PUSD to build luxury housing for themselves paid for by you.  Don’t fall for it, again.

REFORMS MUST COME FIRST.

Vote NO on PUSD Measures EE and R. See www.votenooneer.com.

Michael J. Vogler

Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre Voters for School Reform 2024 – No on Measures EE and R