We have all been fed a lie: “Education is the great equalizer.” That line dominates the public discourse on K-12 public education. However, it’s certainly not true in the Bay Area nor in California. Piedmont High School and Oakland High School are less than 3 miles apart. Yet the academic performance of their students couldn’t […]
Tag: K-12 education
The “Split-Roll” Initiative: California’s New Hope for its Property Tax Loophole
Proposition 13, passed nearly 40 years ago, has been benefiting large corporations by handing them massive property tax breaks. This seemingly innocuous anti-tax legislation resulted in fundamental changes to the division of fiscal responsibility in California’s government. Now, a statewide coalition is trying to fight this through a new ballot measure. Passed in June 1978, […]
Redefining Homelessness: The Struggle for Recognition
The sudden rush of people cramming onto BART is Brittany Jones’s alarm clock every morning. Since the age of 19, Brittany has been uncertain of where she will sleep each night, bouncing between BART, relatives’ and friends’ houses, group homes, and shelters. She is merely one of California’s thousands of homeless people trying to find […]