Begin the Calizuela tax battles

Members of the Los Angeles Unified School District school board cheerily wore yellow ‘YES on EE’ lapel pins at their meeting Tuesday and encouraged attendees to vote in favor of a parcel tax ballot initiative that would generate millions in local revenue to help ease the district’s financial woes, if passed on June 4 in a special election.High polling numbers in the wake of the January teachers strike lent the school board confidence to place Measure EE on the ballot, but their ability to secure a two-thirds majority vote is now being challenged by an emerging cohort of Los Angeles business groups, including the influential Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, have converged to fight the tax in a projected $4 million ‘NO on EE’ campaign.Tracy Hernandez, the CEO of LA County umbrella group BizFed; president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Jon Coupal; former South Gate mayor Bill DeWitt; and Stuart Waldman, of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association also signed onto the ballot argument submitted to the LA County Registrar’s Office on March 22 that will be sent to voters in April.