It looks like our school district superintendent John Deasy is crying “wolf” again and, alas, there is only a scraggly old coyote in the distance. Measure EE’s fundamental flaw is that it is a l3-year tax! Whereas the education shortfall is only temporary, and projected to end soon. Yes, for the next 13 years we will be taxed $300 per year even if the schools are flush with money. They just keep it. They don’t give it back.
In a normal world, this should be a one-year emergency special measure. But nooooo. The greedy guys in Santa Monica see that old scraggly coyote and, by God, it’s the biggest baddest wolf around. They’ll seize the opportunity and scare parents with threats of cuts, cuts, cuts, when in reality much of what they’re threatening to cut is brand new extra stuff existing only in someone’s imagination. And they had the audacity to admit it Oct. 16 in a presentation at Malibu High School.
All schools in California are tightening their belts for next year. I suggest SMMUSD, the No. 5 school district in the nation, can afford to scale back a few of their grandiose plans for the near future. Superintendent Deasy, if they still teach economics in your schools, look up Lesson One: Living within your budget. It’s still a good lesson. And stop the wolf stuff-we know a coyote when we see one.
Ronald Meszaros