Burbank school officials voice support for pair of propositions

With months before local residents head to the polls to vote, Burbank school officials voiced strong support for two propositions during a recent meeting that could bring billions of dollars to schools statewide.

Proposition 55 would extend Proposition 30’s temporary income tax increase on California’s wealthiest earners for 12 more years.

The revenue from individual taxpayers who earn $250,000 per year or from couples who bring in more than $500,000 annually would give K-12 and community colleges access to an estimated $11 billion annually.

For school officials and educators who experienced several years of drastic state budget cuts to education — beginning around the start of the economic downturn in 2007 — they said it’s critical that the measure pass.

To bolster support, the school board unanimously passed a resolution backing the initiative during a meeting last week.

“I came onto this board at the time when everything was just starting its downward crash,” said school board member Roberta Reynolds. “It was absolutely a horrifying experience, of having to make those decisions and those cuts.”

School board members went on to make more than $100 million in budget cuts to local schools over several years.

When Proposition 30 passed in 2012, it brought a collective sigh to board members and educators who were no longer burdened by making difficult budget decisions, but they were thrust into deciding which programs to restore and how many additional staff members they could hire, including assistant principals, nurses and counselors.

Slowly, those restorations have been initiated across the district’s 20 schools, including cost-of-living pay hikes to teachers who had gone without raises for about seven years.

Elsewhere, community colleges, also hit by several years of budget cuts, began to provide class offerings they had been forced to do away with temporarily.

However, K-12 education in California still isn’t where it needs to be, according to Diana Abasta, president of the Burbank Teachers Union.

“Our schools continue to rank low in the nation and in per-pupil funding, and California still has among the largest class sizes,” she said.

The initiative’s passage is also key for Burbank Supt. Matt Hill, who hopes local residents will back it.

“It’s critical that this is closely looked at and supported by our community,” he said.

Meanwhile, school board members also passed a resolution in unanimous support of Proposition 51, the California Public Education Facilities Bond Initiative.

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FOR THE RECORD

August 23, 7:34 p.m.: A previous version of this story misidentified Proposition 51 as the extension and Proposition 55 as the bond. Proposition 55 is an extension of Proposition 30, while Proposition 51 is the school bond initiative.

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With voters’ approval, the state would issue $9 billion in bond funds to modernize and construct new facilities for elementary and secondary schools as well as community colleges.

Larry Applebaum, school board president, said the proposition would give Burbank Unified the chance to make additional upgrades, including adding classrooms at Burbank and John Burroughs high schools.

The initiative would also give Burbank Unified state funds to match with its own Measure S bond funds.

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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan