February 17, 2012 | 11:47 am

Jewish Identity: Public Education, Educated and Educators and Willing to Pay $300 More Property Tax

Posted by Pini Herman

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A Tax Increase May Be Needed

Public education is vital to the Jewish community and supported by the vast majority of the Jewish community.  In practical terms because Jews are disproportionately home and property owners out tax investment in the public education system is great.  I personally pay a lot in property taxes and public education is vital to me.

If the Jewish Federation had fielded a Jewish Population Study of LA recently, it would likely find as I did in the last one 14 years ago that there were a high proportion of Jews employed in public elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as within the private education sector.  Another finding would probably be that Jewish educators were disproportionately female and had significant representation in the arts and music programs being target for elimination by the LAUSD.

Apart from the educators, the white students remaining in the LAUSD are disproportionately Jewish.  So it is our own Jewish kids and parents who will be carrying the burden of the LAUSD proposed cuts.

If the Jewish Federation still had a working Jewish community relations council, as it did in the past, they would be mightily working the school board and the pols to avert the cuts on which the vote has just been delayed on the $6 billion budget plan that would cause thousands of LAUSD employees to lose their jobs. 

Luckily my LAUSD board member, Steve Zimmer, heeded my tiny phone call and proposed the delay and said:

There is no public education without adult education, without the arts…There’s a difference between drastic cuts and catastrophic cuts.

Make you voice heard:

Call or email any or all of the following LAUSD School Board Members:

District 1      Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382      
District 2      Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 *
District 3      Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
District 4      Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
District 5      Bennett.Kayser@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
District 6      Nury.Martinez@lausd.net • 213-241-6388                    
District 7      Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
*LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT

And let Dr. Deasy hear from you, too!
Superintendent_JohnDeasy@LAUSD.NET 213-241-7000

UPDATE: The ax is suspended in mid-air for 21 days. The board has time to consider alternatives, including placing a ballot measure to increase property taxes by $300 annually to obtain $220 million.

Pini Herman, PhD. has served as Asst. Research Professor at the University of Southern California Dept. of Geography,  Adjunct Lecturer at the USC School of Social Work,  Research Director at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles following Bruce Phillips, PhD. in that position (I was recently notified that with 40,000 visitors this year the 15 year old study of the LA Jewish populationwas third most downloaded study from Berman Jewish Policy Archives in 2011) and is immediate past President of the Movable Minyan a lay-lead independent congregation in the 3rd Street area. Currently he is a principal of Phillips and Herman Demographic Research. To email Pini: pini00003@gmail.com To follow Pini on Twitter: Follow @pinih

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