Prop. 13 is the Reason California Schools are Underfunded

California used to be ranked top 10 in the nation in education funding. Now, we are ranked in the bottom half. This is completely unacceptable, and nearly entirely to do with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978. Prop. 13 debilitated our state’s ability to fund public education by drastically reducing the amount of property tax revenue our local governments bring in. There is a corporate loophole in Prop. 13 that not many people know about, which means that corporations like Chevron and Disney don’t have to pay modern day property taxes on their incredibly profitable property, such as oil fields and Disneyland. This is unacceptable, and it shifts tax burden onto the rest of us in the form of other tax increases that are necessary to fund our schools. We must close the corporate loophole, which would restore $17 BILLION dollars a year and allow us to reclaim our place as one of the states with the best schools in the country.

The Executive Director of Evolve California, Ben Grieff, spoke to Kevin Jones of Doomloop Dispatch regarding the work of reforming Prop. 13. Evolve has been working to fully fund California public schools for a decade, and one of the biggest reasons behind the underfunding of California public schools is Prop. 13. Watch this episode of the Doomloop Dispatch to find out more about just how bad California schools are compared to the rest of the nation, how Prop. 13 is involved in that, and what we can do to fix it!

Fighting Prop 13 with Evolve California's Ben Grieff

By Doomloop Dispatch | September 19th, 2025