On the ballot for Tuesday's election: Measure EE new parcel tax

LOS ANGELES (FOX 11) - Here are some details about Measure EE, which is on the ballot for Tuesday.

A vote "yes" to the Measure EE parcel tax would authorize the LA Unified School District to charge property owners 16 cents per square foot per year for 12 years to fund public education.

So, if you own a 1,500-square-foot house, you would pay about $240 a year for this tax. District officials estimate the parcel tax would raise $500 million per year for the nation's second largest school system.

Mayor Eric Garcetti says the measure would specifically reduce class size by an average of seven students per classroom. It would also allow a nurse to be in schools every weekday, instead of one to two days per week.

Counselors would be responsible for 200 to 300 kids each, instead of about 700 children. And libraries that have closed on campuses would be reopened. "If you care about homelessness, it starts in the classroom," says LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. "If you care about prison sentences and those are expensive, that starts in the classroom. If you care about our foster youth, poverty, all the things that we pay so much for, it's because we don't take a five-year-old child and say that she or he matters. We need to give them the skills to be self-sufficient so we don't all pay for that later."

Opponents say the district has a spending problem, not a revenue problem and the school system needs to better manage existing funding. And many renters worry the added tax will ultimately fall on them.

Those 65 years or over, on disability or on social security would be exempt from the law. You can vote on the measure on Tuesday, which requires a two-thirds vote to pass.