Kelly Finneran
Instructor Stacey Knapp
English
1A
14 October 2012
Proposition 30
Is public education funding important to
Californians? We will find out on
November 6, 2012, when Proposition 30 also known as “The School and Safety
Protection Act” will be on the ballet.
The objective of this initiative is to stop the impending budget cuts
planned for 2012-2013 and create revenue from taxes to fund our public schools
and public safety programs. In my
opinion the benefits of this proposition clearly out weight the
alternatives. Therefore, I would suggest
voting YES on Proposition 30.
If Proposition 30 passes,
it would increase the sales-tax rate by one-quarter of a cent for every dollar
spent in California over the next four years. For the next seven years, it
would increase personal income-tax rates on upper-income taxpayers. Individuals
in California with taxable income of $250,000 will pay an additional 1%,
incomes over $300,000 will pay an additional 2%, and incomes over $500,000 will
pay an additional 3%.
How will Proposition 30 benefit
Californians? It will prevent an
approximate $ 5-6 billion in immediate “trigger cuts” to public education,
which is already approved for our 2012-2013 state budget. According
to David Brown, with the World Socialist Web Site, the plan to accommodate the
“trigger cuts” to public schools for the 2012-2013, is to reduce the number of school
days to 160 days per school year.
If approved by voters, the temporary tax
revenues generated will be deposited into a newly created state account called
the Education Protection Account, to ensure the money is used
appropriately. The education funds will
be dispersed to schools; K-12 receiving 89% of the revenue and community
colleges will be receiving 11% of the revenue.
This will restore funding to our public schools from previous budget cuts.
During the last four years of budget cuts,
38,000 teachers have been let go in California. California ranks last in the U.S. in
the ratio of teachers to students. We
rank 46th in the country in the Kindergarten through 12th
grade spending per student and have the lowest ratio in the country for
counselors, librarians and nurses per student.
As a mother of a 10 year old student, I
have seen class sizes increase dramatically, faculty laid off, bus services cut
back, classroom supplies cut, school classrooms and play grounds dangerously
deteriorating and the number of school days per year gradually decreasing. Being a nursing major student at Cabrillo
College, I have seen first-hand the effects of our state budget education cut
backs. The number of classes offered has
largely decreased consistently over the past three years. Every department has cut staff and currently runs
on part time employees; the library, tutoring staff, administration, financial
aid, student affairs. The list goes on,
our class sizes have increased, our instructors and school staff are completely
over worked. Yet they stay committed and
determined to continue educating. I am
amazed everyday by their dedication. How can we expect our graduates to
step out into the world, be competitive in a global economy and help ensure
that our communities and country prospers? Isn't our community going to be
dependent on these students to run our businesses, medical facilities, public
safety agencies, schools and universities in the future?
California is facing a serious shortage of
college graduates. According to the
Public Policy Institute of California, if current trends persist, California
will have one million fewer college graduates than it needs by 2025 to fulfill
the workforce needs. Only 35% of
working age adults will have college degrees. Without Proposition 30 California
will produce even fewer college graduates which will ultimately bring less
money into our economy due to having lower income wage earners as residents.
Surely the residents of California earning
over $250,000 a year will vote “NO” on Proposition 30, with the thought in mind
that their children attend private schools.
But the fact is all tax payers in California need to contribute and be
part of the solution, instead of putting the burden on the working class, teachers
and parents. While the intentions of
Proposition 30 are certainly good, the opposition has a few important questions
to be answered. For instance, who will
have control and make the decisions of how the tax revenue generated will be
spent? As I mentioned previously, the
tax revenue will be deposited into the EPA.
With that said, the local school governing boards will have authority
over how the funds are used by way of open meetings, which will be subject to
annual audits. The funds will not be allowed
to be used for administrative costs. In
addition, those opposing Proposition 30 can point out that the residents
earning over $250,000 annually currently pay 40 percent of the state’s income
taxes. This is a fact. However, the wealthiest residents of
California have at their disposal endless loopholes and tactics to avoid taxes.
As mentioned by the California Budget
Project, “The poorest fifth of California families pay 10.2 percent of their
household income to state and local taxes.
While the top 1 percent of California income earners pay only 7.4
percent of their income to state and local taxes.” Thus a tax increase ranging from 1 to 3
percent for top income earners over $250,000 is a fair and responsible
expectation.
Education is the key to our states’ and
country’s economic success, and is essential to our children's futures. Every
day there are thousands of students working hard to educate themselves in our
state’s K-14 system, at Cabrillo College, UC Santa Cruz and throughout our
state.
I see that these are very
challenging economic times, but we should be outraged about what is happening
to our schools.
We need to support our
students, therefore we need to support Proposition 30…these children are our
future!
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Proposition
30: The Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of Fact Sheet. “
University of
California, 27 August 2012. Web 5 Sept. 2012.
This
fact sheet gives a brief summary of the Proposition 30 pros and cons, as well as
a few website references to gather further information from. There is background outlining the history of
the initiative starting in 2011 by Gov. Jerry Brown. The proposed sales tax and income tax
increases will generate revenue to support Education K-14 and public safety
programs in California, if the proposition passes by 50% of Californians voting
for the initiative. The article goes on
to give an estimate of the revenue to be generated over the next seven years if
Proposition 30 passes and the economic impact on UC colleges over the next
seven years. The article closes with a
statement from the UC Board of Regents in support of Proposition 30.
Brown, David.
“The reactionary essence of California’s Proposition 30.” World Socialist Website,
8 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Sept. 2012.
The
author, David Brown starts by suggesting that Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed to
increase taxes on the working class, giving the two main methods, sales tax and
income tax. He goes on to explain that
Gov. Jerry Brown is, “holding California State school systems hostage.” If Prop. 30 doesn’t pass California schools
will immediately face $5 billion in cuts and with that the same budget will
allow schools to decrease school days to 160 days per school year to
accommodate the cuts.
Mr. Brown points out the major cuts that have
been made to the state’s General Fund by Jerry Brown since in office. Yet he dodges the fact that California was in
extreme economic trouble before Jerry Brown was elected. He makes a valid point when describing the
Democrats and Republicans as paying for the economic crisis by stealing
programs from the working class and “safeguarding” the very wealthy financiers
who caused the crisis. Billions of
dollars have been cut from Education, Medi-Cal, CalWORKS, other programs have
been eliminated while corporate tax cuts have been “accelerated” to “stimulate
growth.” I think Mr. Brown is right on target here. The working class which pays the highest
percentage of their wages to the government is being kicked down again by the
government.
Buchmann, Wyatt. “Prop 30 Ads Confusing.” San
Francisco Chronicle. 3 Oct. 2012. Web 4 Oct. 2012.
Wyatt Buchmann wrote this article with a
seemingly unbiased opinion. He gives pro
and cons and talks about the
Television advertisements launched against Prop 30. He outlines the revenue that will be raised
by the tax increases and the use of the EPA.
Then he goes into Gov. Jerry Brown’s previous tax increases and how
proposition 98 will effect proposition 30 when it comes to the use of tax
revenue from the General Fund, which is where most of the educational funding
comes from currently. Unfortunately, it
sounds as though proposition 98 enables the legislatures to use the General
Fund at their discretion when tax revenue increases in California. And that is exactly what proposition 30 will
do, increase the state tax revenue, freeing up billions of dollars for other uses. I believe this is a huge concern that no one
is talking about. Yet the fact still
remains that our schools need additional funding and Proposition 30 will help.
“CASTROL Position Statement on
Proposition 30: Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act 2012.” California Teachers of English to
Speakers of Other Languages. 18 Sept.
2012.
In
this brief article, CASTROL states their position as pro Proposition 30 supporters
and lists the current
state of our state public schools, the ranking nationally and the up and coming cut backs if proposition 30 does not pass in
November. They also outline the sales and
income taxes that are
included in the initiative and how the revenue will be spent.
