Out-of-pocket school expenses and Prop. 13

Re “Prop. 13 steals from our children,” Current, Aug. 27

Karin Klein’s tour through her checkbook for her back-to-school money woes was interesting, but laying the blame on Proposition 13 made me laugh.

I attended middle and high school before Proposition 13, and we had to pay for most of the things she lists, including bus fare, a student body card (actually a sticker that went on your ID card) and extracurricular activities. I remember buying dictionaries, Spanish verb books, log tables and the like. Anything beyond the basic textbook and associated workbook was up for grabs.

My older brother and sister had it worse. In 1960s Tucson, they had to buy their textbooks (the school would buy them back at the end of the year). Arizona didn’t have a Proposition 13 equivalent at the time.

There are valid issues pro and con about Proposition 13 that we should discuss. Paying out of pocket for things that were extra before it passed in 1978 isn’t one of them.

DAVID OLSEN

San Diego

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Klein cries that taxpayers are not paying all of her children’s school expenses. I cried when, before Proposition 13 passed, my mother had to give up her small, one-bedroom house because she could not afford to pay the escalating property taxes. Now Klein wants to see my generation squeezed out of our houses too.

FRANK MYERS

Downey

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Klein has opened a can of worms, but it’s about time someone faced up to the damage Proposition 13 has done to this state. It is the reason California’s schools are in such a mess. When teachers must spend their own money on supplies for their classrooms, you know something is wrong. And that’s what’s happening every semester in our public schools.

It’s time to correct this terrible situation and begin assessing property taxes that are equitable. I say that as a homeowner who will retire soon. It is vital to California’s economy that we have an outstanding educational system that prepares all children for the future, not just the ones living in my neighborhood.

I will vote for any proposal to change the property tax structure and for any candidate who promises to support such efforts.

BOB HARRIS

Lancaster

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So Klein thinks that retired homeowners should be paying tens of thousands of dollars a year in property taxes so she doesn’t have to pay $800 a year for her Laguna Beach kids? I’ve got one thing to say to Klein: Suck it up.

DAVE CARBERRY

Redondo Beach