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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT PARCEL
TAX ELECTIONS
by
Imre Stephen Meszaros
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2010
Copyright 2010 Imre Stephen Meszaros
Object Description
| Title | The political economy of California school district parcel tax elections |
| Author | Meszaros, Imre Stephen |
| Author email | meszaros@usc.edu; imre.meszaros@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Education |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Education (Leadership) |
| School | Rossier School of Education |
| Date defended/completed | 2010-02-25 |
| Date submitted | 2010 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2010-04-14 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Picus, Lawrence O. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Hentschke, Guilbert Malloy, Courtney |
| Abstract | California's underperforming schools suffer from a school finance system that gives local administrator's little discretion in how to raise and allocate funds. One source of discretionary revenue in the post-Proposition 13 environment is the parcel tax--a form of property tax that is unrelated to property values. The school district parcel tax referendum has not, however, been widely used even though most such measures placed on the ballot have passed with the required two-thirds supermajority. This study describes the characteristics of districts that place parcel taxes on the ballot and that account for the election outcomes. It also provides information to school district officials interested in assessing the likelihood of a successful parcel tax measure in their district and to policymakers considering the likely effect of a reduction in the threshold for passage to 55%.; Taking into account a variety of demographic and structural factors, this study found that districts that proposed parcel tax measures were larger and had larger schools, were more urbanized, and had more affluent and highly-educated populations than those that did not. Parcel tax measures were largely concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area. Support for these measures was strongly associated with the percent of the population with a college education and less strongly but still significantly associated with the percent of the population below the poverty level, the elderly percent of the population, the American Indian percent of the population, the unemployment rate, location in a small town, location in the Bay Area, and average school size. However, a number of factors often implicated as important by theories that seek to explain electoral behavior based on the self-interest of voters did not prove to be significant in this study. While the school district parcel tax does not have a great deal of untapped potential with the current two-thirds majority requirement, it would have tremendous potential to provide additional school funding if the approval level were to be reduced to 55%. Many of the largest school districts in California would be likely to be able to pass parcel taxes given a 55% requirement. |
| Keyword | demographic factors; parcel tax; Proposition 13; school finance; school finance elections |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m2915 |
| Rights | Meszaros, Imre Stephen |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Meszaros-3536 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume14/etd-Meszaros-3536.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT PARCEL TAX ELECTIONS by Imre Stephen Meszaros A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May 2010 Copyright 2010 Imre Stephen Meszaros |
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