Final Draft Prop. 30

Proposition 30’s Crisis

 

Times have changed; California's education is failing along with the state budget and now is the time for us as voters to change it. In 2011 the state budget was $25 billion in debt when Gov. Brown started. Over the past year, just trying to balance out the billions of dollars of debt the lawmakers have drastically reduced spending in health, community development, public safety and most importantly education. Even with these drastic cuts the budget remains out of balance and will stay in debt unless something changes. Gov. Brown has proposed a solution, Proposition 30; I believe will work to restore California’s financial budget crisis and Educational system.

                Proposition 30 if passed is estimated to raise $6-9 billion in new revenue each year for public education and public safety. Prop. 30 would raise income taxes 1-3% for seven years on the wealthiest families, the most "blessed", making over $500,000 a year. Sales taxes would be raised by quarter of a cent for the next four years, 90% of prop. 30's revenue will be used to fund public education and safety. Prop. 30's revenue will help fund K-12 schools, preventing a three week cut of school. 11% of the revenue will go towards community colleges. $5.6 billion in funding that can be used for healthcare, and high education is freed up, and a prevention of dramatic cuts to CSUs of $250 million of class cuts, layoffs and enrollment cuts are prevented. The estimated new revenue gives students the opportunity to attend class and be able to go to school giving them the chance to obtain the American dream.

Schools in California have already faced budget cuts that changed how students view school. California schools cannot risk the loss of anymore money.  Without Prop. 30 the schools and colleges face an additional $6 billion in devastating cuts this year. Prop. 30 is the only advantage schools have left that prevents those cuts and at the same time provides billions of new funding for the schools starting this year. If Proposition 30 is rejected according to San Bernardino Sun “…then nearly $6 billion will be cut from the budgets of the state's public schools and universities. The results will be catastrophic: Teachers across the state will be laid off; admissions at state colleges and universities will be cut; tuition at California State Universities will go up by $150 a semester; k-12 students will have their school years cut by more than a week, and the state's slowly recovering economy could be thrown into a tailspin ". And that's just in the first year.  With the billions of dollars’ of cuts even more classes, layoff of faculty, staff and enrollment cuts will be enforced.  Law enforcement, fire departments and public safety funding will take a sustainable reduction. The cuts will continue until the economy significantly improves or the state finds a very large gold pot at the end of a rainbow.

However in the end its go to work and pay up or no education and watch California’s budget crisis drag it into darkness. As a student I pay for my classes, and in return I have to work to be able to go to school. I am a 19 year old college student and this is my second year at Cabrillo. Even if my first year I had trouble getting into the classes I wanted, I was on the wait-list for all of my classes but one. This semester I had a small list of classes to choose from still. The class sizes, the cutting of programs and classes have affected me dramatically. The more classes that get cut means the price of the other classes go up along with the book prices, which in return means I have to work more hours taking away my time to be in school. Not to mention the increase of students trying to get into a class with limited seats. I have had to stand in the back of class rooms listening to lectures while others stand outside the door all because of the increasing cuts. I have seen teachers turn students away at the door due to oversized classes. Originally I only had to spend three years at college to obtain the units I need for my career, now after class cuts, an increase of hours at work to pay for school and not being able to get into a class those three years have turned out to be closer to four or five.

 Everyone has an "American dream" may it be to be rich and powerful or to be a school teacher. My dream is to be able to have a family and to be able to provide whatever they need, the classic white picket fence. This is achieved through hard work, dedication and a strong educational background. But with the current educational crisis I fear for the future of the American dream. Everyone deserves and needs an opportunity for a strong education and without the chance for proposition 30 to restore the state’s budget I fear that the American dream will almost be impossible to obtain, but with the help of proposition 30 there is a chance for America's education and the American dream.

In this time of economic disaster proposition 30 gives the state the chance to help relieve the damage from budget cuts and to restore some of the education, public safety, and community services. Prop. 30 give California the opportunity to change its future. However there are some groups that are against prop. 30. According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel say that proposition 30 is not needed because “it's unlikely that all the trigger cuts will happen as threatened. The evidence for this comes from previous trigger cuts that were threatened but never materialized as deeply as threatened”. So maybe all the trigger cuts won’t go into effect, but even a $2 billion cut in school funding would be devastating to the schools and the economy. That cut would further cripple the economic growth. Another major point brought to the table is that the raising off taxes will destroy family businesses and small businesses, but according to the department of finance, the revenue from this proposition represents just over half of what was lost when three other taxes expired in 2010 and 2011. The overall tax burden will still be lower than it was two years ago. In the Bakersfield Californian an article points out that, “contrary to the governor's claims, Proposition 30 does not create new revenue for schools; it merely restores some of what's already been cut”. Meaning the $5.6 billion in funding that is saved for healthcare, and high education is not new money for the schools to do whatever with, all the money would do is replace what is missing in union costs for teachers and their pensions, still some money is better than none.

In this economic time of disaster education is facing devastating cuts if proposition 30 isn't passed, more cuts to California's already poorly funded system means less classes, smaller class sizes, less availability and not to mention higher class prices for students. Proposition 30 gives the state a chance to help relieve the budget cuts and to restore some of the education, public safety, and community services in California. Proposition 30 sets the stage for the restoration of California's budget crisis. Proposition 30 is no substitute for long-term reforms, but it is a measured and functional response to this crisis.

Vote yes on proposition 30.