What is it?

Proposition 13, the official name on the ballot being “Authorizes Bonds for Facility Repair, Construction, and Modernization at Public Preschools, K-12 Schools, Community Colleges, and Universities, Legislative Statue.”

The summary of the ballot goes:

$15 billion in state bonds will be acquired for public education facilities, where $9 billion will go towards preschools and K-12, and 6 billion will go towards public universities and community colleges. The projects will improve health and safety conditions. Administrative costs will be reduced to 5%. Money from the General Fund will be allocated to repay the bonds.

The proposition, if approved would enable school and college facilities to be $15 billion for construction and repairs. There would’ve also been changes in the procedure that was used to distribute funds to schools. The proposition would put schools in much bond debt, which can cause an increase in property taxes.

What was decided? 

The proposition was rejected by a 6% majority vote in an election on March 3, 2020. The vote was split 4,304,013 for and 4,856,154 against. 

What was the effect?

The proposition was never passed but there are theories about why it was rejected. Patrick O’Donnell who was a co-author of the proposition believed that the proposition did not pass because many believe that it makes changes to the proposition 13 of 1978 which dealt with property taxes. 

Susan Shelley, vice president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, responded to the claimed confusion of the propositionl’s name by saying “Confusion over proposition 13 is not the whole story here”, she believes that many taxpayers aren’t very confident in the way that the money is being spent.