School Financing Under Prop. 13: California and San Francisco - Commonwealth Club Appearance

Sep 21, 2026

A Commonwealth Club address examines how Proposition 13 affects school financing across California and in San Francisco in particular, addressing school closings, teacher and staff layoffs, and program and activity cutbacks. Dr. Robert F. Alioto outlines his background in education and analyzes the practical impact of the measure on school districts while discussing how changes in fiscal conditions influence staffing, service capacity, and operational outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

School Financing Under Prop. 13: California and San Francisco

Friday Flashes—July 28, 1978

Improved Financial Performance

BART Judged By Promises Not Reasonable Expectations

The Commonwealth # “SCHOOL FINANCING UNDER PROP.13:CALIFORNIA AND SAN FRANCISCO” Schoo closings..teacher and staff layoffs..program and activity cutbacks.Are these therealities of Proposition 13,or will it be business as usual when schools open in September.Dr.Robert Alioto will analyze the effects of Proposition 13 on school districts,both in San Franciscoand statewide,in his second Commonwealth Club appearance.Dr.Alioto,born in San Francisco,has worked extensively in education on both coasts,as teacher,administrator,consultant andsuperintendent.Prior to his San Francisco appointment in 1975,he served as superintendent ofschool in Pearl River and Yonkers,both in New York. FRIDAY FLASHES—JULY 28,1978 From Address by Frank C.Herringer,General Manager,San Francisco Bay AreaRapid Transit District. First,particularly for those of you whoonly come in contact with the Bay AreaRapid Transit system in the media,1would like to assure you that BART isalive and reasonably well,and the prog-nosis for its future is quite good. 150,000 Passengers Per Week Day BART has become a significant factorin the Bay Area transportation network.Itis now carrying nearly 150,000 passengerson a typical week day which is up 6 per-cent from last year and 10 percent from theyear before that.In peak periods the ca-pacity offered by BART is critical to thefunctioning of some of our more congested Friday,Aug.11,Noon Tickets—$7.50 at the door Sheraton Palace HotelGold Ballroom DR.ROBERT F.ALIOTO Superintendent of SchoolsSan Francisco Unified School District STEVEN A.DIAZ,Quarterly Chairman traffic corridors.For example BART car-ries 25 percent of the people who cross thecongested Transbay corridor in the peakhours.Nevertheless,some academicspersist in asserting that BART has had lit-tle impact on transportation in the BayArea. Financially,even with the passage ofJarvis-Gann,BART is in better conditionthan most other public transit systems inthe state or for that matter,the country.Three years ago BART was beset by fiscaluncertainty.In fact,in 1975 it faced an un-funded $12 million deficit,with no pros-pect of stable long-term financing.How-ever,for the last three years,we have beenable to show a surplus,including tax andother financial assistance.The passagelast year of legislation sponsored bySpeaker McCarthy that permanently pro-(Continued on next page) (Continned from preceding page) vides BART with 75 percent of the one-half cent sales tax collection in the threeBART counties assures that for theforeseeable future BART will be able tomaintain its service without excessive fareincreases.Our operating ratio has beenrunning at 40 percent over the last fewmonths,compared to the 33 percent man-dated by the legislature.In the fiscal yearjust ended,our financial statement willagain show a substantial surplus ## Improved Financial Performance Productivity gains and increased effi-ciency in the way service is provided havecontributed to the improved financial per-formance.Our budget for the currentiscal year anticipates 200 positions lessthan the number of positions that were inthe 1977-78 fiscal year budget—a reduc-tion from approximately 2300 to 2100.Wehave been able to reduce staff even thoughservice has been expanded substantially. On the technical side,improvementshave also been made.We now consistentlyhave car availability in the range of 85-90percent which is just about as good as anyother rail transit system in the country. Along with the improvement in caravailability has come a two-thirds de-crease in failure rate of trains in service. The combination of the increase in caravailability and decrease in the failure ratehas enabled us to considerably expandservice over the past several years. ## BART Judged By Promises Not Reasonable Expectations On-Time Performance So much for the good news.In fact,Iam sure there are those of you who arelistening who feel that I am describingsome other entity than that which you

FAQs

What issues does the address link to Proposition 13 for schools?

It describes school closings, teacher and staff layoffs, and program and activity cutbacks as central realities tied to Proposition 13.

Who delivers the main analysis of Proposition 13’s effects on school districts?

Dr. Robert F. Alioto analyzes the effects of Proposition 13 on school districts in San Francisco and statewide.

What earlier experience is highlighted for Dr. Alioto?

The address notes he worked extensively in education and served as superintendent of schools in Pearl River and Yonkers in New York before his San Francisco appointment in 1975.

Sep 21, 2026

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