Culver City Observer -

Dear Editor,

Our school district receives most of its money from The State. Unfortunately, those funds are insufficient, in fact, after the severe cuts during the last economic downturn, it’s only this year that the state funding returned to 2008 levels.

As Chairman of the CCUSD Citizens Budget Advisory Committee for the past two years, I know the budgeting process, and can confirm that the administration works hard to find ways to increase funding and minimize spending wherever possible, but with funding only at 2008 levels, that’s not enough. District expenses have gone up.

For years our school district paid our teachers and staff considerably less than the average salaries in our area, making it hard to get the best applicants to fill vacancies and for great teachers to afford to stay. Raises in recent years have finally put our teacher salaries on a par with other districts in LA County.

Paying our educators a decent salary, means we can retain the finest teachers for our students, but it also costs more to pay them more.

The Measure CC bond has been put to good use on facilities projects like air conditioning, Frost renovation, a new science building, energy efficiency and measures to enhance school safety, but some of these projects also add to the budget. Next time we have a heatwave and your kids no longer suffer through a hot classroom and noisy fans, remember that we have to pay the bill to run those AC units.

All of these things add value to our schools and for our students, and we need to find funds to pay for them.

By law bond money cannot be spent on salaries, programs or supplies. A parcel tax is the only way a school district can consistently raise large amounts of money to pay for these expenses. The Measure K parcel tax would bring the district $2.3 million in additional funding at a cost of $189 per year added to your property tax.

Measure K will need a 2/3rd majority to pass, so every vote for the measure is very important. The measure is near the end of a long ballot, so you will need to go all the way through to vote for it.

Please support our schools and community by voting for Measure K.

David Stout, Phd

Culver City