Prop. 30 Passed by Wider Margin in L.B.

Long Beach voters passed Proposition 30 by a wider margin than both the state and Los Angeles County, approving temporary taxes to reduce the severity of budget cuts in schools.

“Voters have sent a clear message that California must stop the drastic cuts to our public schools,” Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser said.

LBUSD still must trim $20 million this year, but had Prop. 30 failed, the school district would have faced a $35 million annual reduction in funding.

In Long Beach, 60.4 percent of voters favored Prop. 30, surpassing both the 53.9 percent passage rate statewide and the 59.9 percent passage rate in Los Angeles County.  The communities of Avalon and Signal Hill – which are served by LBUSD – also approved      Prop. 30, though they did so by smaller margins than Long Beach.  The tax measure fell just shy of a majority in Lakewood, where portions of the city are served by LBUSD.

The passage of Prop. 30 means the school district won’t face worst-case-scenario cuts such as a one-month reduction in the school year or the elimination of entire programs like high school sports and elementary music.