One of the most short-sighted decisions California voters ever made was passing Proposition 13 in 1978, setting a cap of 1% on assessed property tax values. It was good news for property owners but bad news for the public schools, which are largely funded by these taxes. Related Articles Schools in affluent neighborhoods have been able to make up the funding gap because they have well-heeled parent-teacher-associations.
Those in less affluent neighborhoods don’t have that option, though, because the parents don’t have as much cash. Most of them are also working one or more jobs and don’t have the time to spare. So teachers are left on their own, paying for basic items like pencils and paper from their own pockets.
In desperation, many of them have been going online to ask the rest of us to pitch in. One of them is Kelly McBride, a fourth-grade reading teacher at Greenleaf School on Seminary Avenue in East Oakland. (It used to be called Whitter, for you old-timers.
) With Oakland Unified School District classes back in session as of this week, she’s created a webpage on Amazon where people can help her buy basics like sharpies, organizational folders, water bottles and snacks for her students who often don’t get a chance to eat breakfast, and it’s awfully hard to learn when you’re hungry. Among other things, she’d also like magic markers; a strand of cheap colored lights she can put up around the classroom to make it feel calmer and more welcoming; copy paper fo.