In reading the twin anti-school-tax letters written by the husband and wife team of Marshall Thompson and Susan Tellem, one can only wonder. What motivation would cause this couple to link music, library, health and art programs – which will be terminated next year because the tax levy “failed” with “only” a 61 percent yes vote – with Jerry Perenchio and his Malibu Bay Company’s development plans?
Why would these good people urge Malibu residents to “resist the corporate takeover of Malibu by the Malibu Bay Company” by taking it out on the schools, the teachers, the kids and us parents? Make no mistake: there is no way to view those who defeated Proposition EE as anything other than “anti-kid.” It is just plain mean-spirited to strike back at Jerry Perenchio, illegal immigration, Monica Lewinsky or whatever else it is that bothers you by beating the drums against public education.
The nay-sayers (sic), with a motley grab bag of gripes, get twice as much voting power as yes-voters. That is the only reason that Proposition EE “lost.” Similar narrow opposition killed the parks bond, and last week I watched a girls soccer team practice in a parking lot: another legacy of another anti-kid, anti-social, anti-Malibu vote.
Next year, my neighbor’s first grader will have 31 little classmates all learning how to read from the same teacher at the same time. This “superminority” of 38 percent of voters will maintain California in the bottom quarter of per capita public school spending states. The Thompson/Tellem household will save their $300 in taxes, and Perenchio will get to build what he is entitled to anyway.
Hans Laetz