Revenue Limits

By Joetta L. Sack

It seemed like a good idea in 1978: In the midst of rapidly rising property taxes that forced some Californians to sell their houses or farms, voters passed a ballot initiative that severely restricted the amount of such taxes that local governments could collect.

Their move—one of the first of its kind in the country—meant that the state of California would control most education funding under a formula designed to distribute aid more equitably between rich and poor districts.

But over the ensuing quarter-century, California educators have decried the law, known as Proposition 13. They say that state funding never reached the levels that property taxes had provided. Gradually, they say, the quality of the state’s education...