Schools Tax Needed for Property Values

I am disturbed by the partially informed, short-sighted, and narrow-minded letter to the editor from Diane Venable regarding the merits of a proposed parcel tax for the residents of the Las Virgenes Unified School District. She is mixing apples with doughnuts, displaying absolutely no regard for discrepancies in the nutritional value between the two.

Certain statements are true. As dictated by Gov. Pete Wilson, the Las Virgenes School District was forced to cut $1.16 million from its program budget for the coming school year. Concerned about the impact this would have, concerned local citizens, parents and educators have presented a proposed initiative for the November ballot. They seek to assess every property owner in the district under 65 years of age a $150 per year parcel tax over the next four years.

The money would be used to:

1. Restore the program cuts.

2. Reduce the current student-teacher ratio.

3. Add a seventh period in middle school.

4. Add elementary specialists.

5. Add an elective seventh period in high school.

I am a tax accountant. My success is due to my ability to help the locals minimize their income taxes. Isn’t it contradictory that I support passage of this parcel tax? Actually, no.

Nobody thrills to the idea of paying additional taxes. Even the most civic-minded can usually find better ways to spend their money. But not here. The biggest reason people protest taxes is because government rarely offers them tangible evidence of how they directly benefit from having spent the money. But not here.

Here the monies would be earmarked specifically for the five purposes outlined above; as a matter of law, they could not be spent for any other purpose.

There are 12 schools in the district. Three have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as “distinguished schools of the nation”; 80% of Las Virgenes High School graduates attend college.

Browsing through newspaper real estate sections, one never sees an advertisement boasting “Los Angeles School District” as a feature in selling a home. The reference is “Las Virgenes School District.” Our schools are overwhelmingly considered to be offering a near-private-school education. This parcel tax is meant to ensure that we don’t lose that distinction, for the sake of our children.

If Venable doesn’t have children in this school district, then consider the appreciation her real estate has enjoyed. It is estimated that being in this school district adds $10,000 to $50,000 to the value of our homes. Paying $150 per year to maintain this seems cheap insurance to me.

DOUGLAS MALETZ

Agoura Hills