PARA: No to PUSD bond measure
Everyone understands the value of a quality education. Improving the education of our kids should be a top priority. However, it is the opinion of our organization — Porterville Area Republican Assembly — that buildings and iPad’s do not equate to a quality education.
Quality teachers determine what a student learns and the future that student takes. One hundred percent of our shrinking tax base, we believe, should be spent on things that directly improve the quality of education which our children receive in the classrooms. When we were informed that the Porterville Unified School District placed a $90 million bond on the Nov. 6 ballot and used taxpayer funds to promote the passage of this new tax, we were aghast. This new layer of taxation would increase home owner’s property taxes dramatically for up to the next 40 years and allow PUSD to tap even more of these very same taxpayers’ personal income taxes from the bankrupt state of California.
Let’s not forget that this new massive amount of debt will have to be paid back. That tax burden will fall on the backs of current homeowners, their children as well as future generations for years to come — many years after the current PUSD administration and trustees are long gone.
This new tax is an attempt to supplant funding that should be coming from the State of California and allows Sacramento to continue their wasteful ways. By the way, our area currently is suffering through double digit unemployment, massive home foreclosures and unprecedented gas prices. Asking tax payers to take on additional debt of up to $180 million dollars over the next 40 years is unprecedented and impractical in this economic environment. All governmental agencies; federal, state, local, education, etc. need to live within their current budgets like every U.S. citizen is required to do. PUSD already operates on a $100 million annual budget and needs to trim the massive fat that permeates its organization before asking for more taxpayer provided funds.
We encourage the public to vote no on PUSD’s Measure J tax/bond.
A. L. “LUCKY” Lucketta
PARA Unit President
