Proposition 13 Did Not Pass in California’s 2020 Primary Election

In California’s 2020 primary election on March 3, Proposition 13 was proposed on the ballot but did not pass, with 55.4 percent of people voting “no” on their ballots. This outcome made this proposition the first statewide, education-related bond issue to be rejected since 1994. If it had passed, Proposition 13 would have required California taxpayers to spend $15 billion on high school and college facilities across the state. Furthermore, California’s government planned to utilize the funds to update facilities at elementary to university levels by imposing a new tax on California residents. Specifically, the measure would have prioritized elementary schools and allocated $9 billion of the $15 billion to elementary school facilities. According to Ballotpedia, this would have been followed by $4 billion spent on public universities and $2 billion on community colleges. Senior Helen Roostaeyan believes that funding for education has become a prominent matter today because of the quality of many schools’ current infrastructures.

“A majority of schools today were built during the 1960s and 1980s,” Roostaeyan said. “Thus, the [schools’] infrastructure is most likely not up to date, which can be harmful to student safety.”

According to Ballotpedia, the percent of people who voted “no” consisted of a total of 3,006,558 people, compared with the 2,418,725, or 44.6 percent, of those who voted in favor of the measure. Junior Melissa Qin believes that this outcome may have been linked to the taxes it would have imposed on California citizens.

“Although there are several reasons why California citizens turned this proposition down, I think that one of the main ones is that the 15 billion dollars allocated for the [proposition] would have meant an increase in already high state taxes,” Qin said.