Daniel Eden
English 2
S. Knapp
10/16/2012
The Education Crisis
California is amidst one of the
worst budget deficits that the state has ever seen. For years the public education system has
been taking large budget cuts in order to keep the state afloat. Schools are firing teachers and cutting
classes as the tuition rises. This year
the state faces a potential $6 billion dollar cut to the K-12, Community
College, University of California and California State University programs if
Proposition 30 fails. Additionally,
there will be cuts to City Police Department grants, CalFire, and the
Department of Parks and Recreation among others. This measure, Proposed by Governor Jerry
Brown, would raise the state sales tax by .25% for four years and raise the
income tax on individuals making $250,000 or more a year, for seven years. The extra revenue would go towards public
education as well as public safety. If
the proposition does not pass there will be automatic trigger cuts on January
1st taking about $6 billion from California school funding. Another measure to potentially save the
school budget cuts is proposition 38, which would raise income taxes for
Californians making $7,000 or more a year from 2013 to 2024. This is a well-intentioned proposition, but it
will lock taxpayers in for 12 years and raise money that is not all guaranteed
to go to schools. The education system
can’t afford to take any more cuts.
Proposition 30 needs to be passed in order to save the California Public
Schools from more potentially devastating budget cuts.
As a student in the California
Public School System for the past 16 years, I know how important the schools
are to the state and how much they have changed since the budget cuts in recent
years. I have seen teachers cut and the
classroom sizes grow in K-12 schools while classes and sessions are completely
cut from Community Colleges. Students
and families can’t afford to pay more when they already struggle to pay for
tuition that has been rising for years.
We allow our youth to have
opportunity stripped from them if we don’t pass Prop. 30. Tuition will rise and classes will be cut,
making it hard for students to afford to go to college, therefore giving them
less opportunity to be financially successful in our competitive economy. According to a study done by the US Census
Bureau, “Over
a work-life, individuals who have a bachelor’s degree would earn on average
$2.1 million - about one- third more than workers who did not finish college,
and nearly twice as much as workers with only a high school diploma. A master’s
degree holder tops a bachelor’s degree holder at $2.5 million. Doctoral ($3.4
million) and professional degree holders ($4.4 million) do even better.” This is clear proof of the impact education
has on financial success. The potential trigger cuts would create
unequal educational opportunity across the state. We need to take responsibility for the futures
of our youth and fund the schools provided to them. California used to have one of the leading
school systems in the nation and world, but now has fallen in many
categories. The California School Board
Association states that we now rank 49th in teacher to student ratio with an
average of 20.9 students per 1 teacher.
Public Education in California is in an emergency.
Opponents of proposition 30 claim
that this measure doesn’t guarantee that any of the extra revenue will go to
our school systems. This holds no
validity because the official title and summary of proposition 30 prepared by
the attorney general states that it, “[a]llocates temporary tax revenues 89% to
K-12 schools and 11% to community colleges”.
The extra revenue will be put into an Education Protection Account (EPA)
that cannot be touched by the legislature.
Opposition also argues that it is unfair to raise taxes on only the rich
in order to fund the schools. The
wealthiest people in the state can afford the tax increases that would save the
state. California cannot afford to raise
income tax across among the poorest of our citizens, as Proposition 38 would
do, and if neither proposition passes, our students will be paying more in
tuition. This election, we can decide
who we want to pay more: our students, the poor and middle class, or the
richest people in our state.
If the trigger cuts go into effect,
the K-12 system would lose about $5.5 billion in funding. This would force K-12 schools to take 3 weeks
off of the regular school year. That
would force the curriculum to be in taught in a shorter time, reducing the
quality of the education, either speeding it up or cutting it out completely. Taking this much money out of our basic
education would have terrible long-term effects on our young students.
Over the past 3 years, the
enrollment at California Community Colleges has decreased by more than 485,000
students due to budget cuts. The cuts
have also forced about 15% of the courses to be taken away which has turned
away thousands of students. If 30 fails,
the California Community College Chancellor’s office states that, “Community
Colleges would be cut by another $338 million in the middle of the academic
year, which translates into 180,000 fewer students. Colleges would be forced to slash course
offerings even further, lay off more educators and borrow more.” If it passes they will, “receive $210 million
in additional funds in 2012-13.” This
extra funding would help to make room for an extra 20,000 students. Our Community Colleges desperately need this
extra funding. I have waited for a spot in overcrowded classes and been forced
to stay in school for extra time because there is no open space available. The California State University system has
received cuts of $750 million in the past 4 years and faces another $250
million if Prop 30 doesn’t pass.
According to Carla Rivera of the Los Angeles Times, CSU students will
face a 5% tuition increase if the measure fails and a 9% tuition refund if it
passes. All we need to do is temporarily
raise income and sales tax and we can save our K-12 and higher education.
Proposition 30 is written to save
the current status of the California public education system. If we don’t vote yes on 30, our schools will
face a $6 billion cut from K-12 and higher education. As citizens of the state we need to save the
already underfunded education system. We
have the power to keep the schools open for the full school year and avoid
costly tuition hikes and cut classes.
The alternatives include raising income taxes on some of the poorest
people in California, or allowing massive trigger cuts which would be
detrimental to the education system.
This temporary tax increase will have lasting effects on the future of
our young citizens. Help save our
education by passing Proposition 30 in November.
Bibliography
Day, Jennifer
C. and Eric C. Newburger. "The Big Payoff: Educationa lAttainment and
Synthetic
Estimates of Work-Life Earnings." U.S. Census Bureau. N.p., July
2002. Web.
12
Oct. 2012. <http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p23-210.pdf>.
Rivera,
Carla. "Cal State System to Hike Tuition 5% If Prop. 30 Fails." Los
Angeles
Times. Los Angeles Times, 18 Sept.
2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2012.
<http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/18/local/la-me-0919-cal-state-fees-2-20120919>.
California
School Board Association
Proposition
30 Official Title & Summary
California
Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office
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