Los Angeles School Bonds

Re “First, Give Us Some Guarantees” by Joel Fox, Commentary, March 30: As a Los Angeles Unified School District high school teacher I find Fox’s demands trivial and insulting to my profession. The behemoth LAUSD bureaucracy, led by a lame-duck superintendent, will waste some of our hard-earned citizens’ capital. Which branch of city government does not? However, much of the capital will actually trickle down to each school site to complete the repairs necessary.

I am certain that Fox does not have ceiling tiles raining down in his office, or a condemned restroom located down the hall, due to lack of maintenance. Not to mention earthquake retrofitting. So why should we? Aren’t we suffering enough in overcrowded under- equipped classrooms? What more will we have to endure? It’s not like we are asking for gold-plated toilet seats.

There are the safety concerns of almost 700,000 students and 33,000 teachers at issue. I only hope that the voting public will see the light and do the right thing, by approving Proposition BB.

CHRISTOPHER McCAULEY

Manhattan Beach

* So you think it’s a good idea to pass Proposition BB, paid for by property owners (editorial, March 23). Think again; the majority of parents who send their children to public school don’t own property. The landlords will raise their rents to compensate for this tax, but where is the single-family homeowner to go to recoup the loss?

It’s ideas like this that lead to Prop. 13-like revolts. You really blew it by saying “voters skeptical of the ability of district administrators to wisely manage the funds should be comforted by an unprecedented regime of fiscal oversight.” How dumb do you think we are? That statement equates to more bureaucratic administrators who will never leave, but will be paid, accruing vacation and sick time and then retiring with hefty bonuses at property owners’ expense. Find another ox to gore, say a one-cent sales tax.

DARENE SUTHERLAND

Reseda