This story illustrates yet another reason that Basic Aid should be eliminated as a funding model for California schools.

Under Basic Aid, all of the property taxes in the Los Altos School district (read: parts of Mtn View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills) will not go to the general fund for equitable division among all schools, but stay in the district.

There is now a smaller pie to divide among the Revenue Limit school districts, meaning a greater deficit for those schools. Kids in LASD, many of whom already have many advantages in life now have another-- better funded schools than the other 95% of the state districts.

Why shouldn't residents of a school district only contribute taxes to their own district? Because they live in the state as a whole. Good schools are not only important as a method of maintaining home prices in your neighborhood. Every person educated in California needs good education- how frustrating is it when a cashier can't make proper change. How much violence, unemployment and homelessness is attributable to the absence of a good basic education? We don't only live in our neighborhoods with our country club schools- we interact on a daily basis with families and kids who deserve well maintained, fully staffed schools too.