Parents Call to La Verne for Support of Prop. 30 Fails

A proposal for local support of Proposition 30 stalled and appears to have died during Monday’s La Verne City Council meeting, as a call for a motion on the proposal was met with silence.

Grace Miller Elementary School PTA’s president Juan Vasquez and PTA member Matthew Lyons appealed to council members during the Oct. 1 meeting for the support and the issue was placed on the Oct. 15 agenda.

After a report from City Manager Bob Russi, and further appeals from Vasquez and Lyons, no one spoke up to a call for a motion by Mayor Don Kendrick.

“OK, we are not going to have a vote tonight,” Kendrick said after a 10 second silence.

At the heart of the council’s hesitance was a resolution adopted by La Verne in 2003 - but followed unofficially since 1988 – that states the council should not take action on issues outside their jurisdiction.

Any issues that to do not directly benefit or affect local interests are to be left to the apropriate country, state or federal agency, according to a staff report.

Before the call for a vote, Vasquez told council members he understood the position they were in. This is a state measure on an issue of education, but it has a large effect on the families living in their communities, he said.

“The thing that makes me comfortable with (supporting) this one is that it is supported by the Bonita Unified School District,” Vasquez told the council.

“I will take my cue from Dr. Rapkin and what he has deemed will actually benefit the children of the city,” he said in reference to Dr. Gary Rapkin, PhD, Bonita Unified School District Superintendent, who supports the measure.

The proposition increases taxes on earnings over $250,000 for seven years and sales taxes by a fourth of a cent for four years, to fund schools, according to the state sample ballot. It guarantees public safety realignment funding. If passed, the measure would raise $6 billion annually in tax revenues through 2018–19, according to the guide. It would also prevent more funding to the cuts to education that are set to hit this year if it’s not passed, educators said.

This means not supporting the proposition could have dire consequences, supporters said.

“From my perspective, a tradition of inaction, on this matter, is completely unacceptable,” Lyons told the council during his public comment. “A comfort zone of inaction is completely unacceptable whether you call it an informal policy or not.”

“It’s very easy to treat Sacramento as this third-party entity. I could blame Republicans. I can blame Democrats,” Lyons said. “But we all share in equal ownership in that function or dysfunction. It ultimately becomes a local issue.”

At the council’s request, Russi ran down some of the city’s other experiences of having sales tax money, along with redevelopment funds, redirected to schools. Millions have gone toward fulfilling the state’s obligation to schools or public safety but more has been needed and taken, Russi said.

Lyons expressed disappointment over the council’s no vote. They had gotten support in San Dimas which is also served by Bonita Unified School District, he said. Four of five council members in that city, including the mayor, voiced support, he said.

Kendrick reminded those in attendance the city always works closely with the district, especially through the Youth and Family Action Committee, a program formed more than 20 years ago.

“Even though Proposition 30 was not passed by a unanimous vote does not mean we’re not supportive of this,” Kendrick said. “Doesn’t mean that at all. It means that the City of La Verne, the City Council, is not going to take a stand on it. That’s what it means. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t support it. We support kids more than you ever will know. I will tell you that I spend numerous hours, and have for decades supporting and helping kids in this district. I would defy anybody to challenge what I have done and what some of the other people on this dais (have done) for kids in this community. So just because we don’t agree with Proposition 30 coming to this body and approving it doesn’t mean that we don’t support it or that we don’t support our kids because we do very, very much.”