The California School Boards Association has endorsed both Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative and a rival measure on the November ballot, calling the dual backing "an unprecedented move."
Brown had hoped that his multibillion-dollar tax hike on sales and wealthy earners would be the only major tax initiative this fall. But wealthy attorney Molly Munger filed signatures this month for her initiative raising income taxes on all but the poorest residents to raise money mostly for schools.
In a statement, CSBA executive director Vernon M. Billy said, "While each initiative presents a different funding scenario for our schools, the bottom line is that both will generate billions of dollars in much-needed revenue for public education."
Despite endorsing Brown's measure, CSBA leaders said they "want to make it clear to the public that the governor's initiative does not provide new funding for schools. Instead, it bolsters the General Fund with new revenue."
"Under the governor's plan, schools would get back some of the billions of dollars that were redirected away from them and used to shore up the state's funding gap in the last budgetary cycle," Billy said. "The governor's initiative only restores some of the funds already owed to schools."
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