I was a child in Los Angeles before Prop 13 was passed -- when California's public education system was the envy of the nation -- and now I'm an adult homeowner in the Bay Area. I still think it was a disaster for the state.

I remember those days when the school system in California was the best in the Country, I went to school 1st-4th grade in San Jose, and when we moved back to Washington state I was ahead of everyone for awhile :)

It's sad because it doesn't have to be this way.

Here was the eye opener for me from the article Joyce stashed:

Worse, because the provisions of Proposition 13 on changes of ownership have allowed corporate lawyers to find great loopholes for commercial property transactions, usually through lease arrangements (rather than outright purchases) on blatantly under-assessed land, the initiative, purportedly designed to protect homeowners, has generated a huge shift of the tax burden from commercial to residential property. In 1978, homeowners paid 55 percent of property taxes; today, they pay 72 percent.