Rough Draft

California is facing a serious budget problem. According to the California Budget, there is a 15.7 billion dollar shortage for Governor Jerry Brown to cover.  Because over fifty percent of the budget goes to education, California’s schools are facing large cuts. This is coming at a time when the schools have been dealing with years of budget cuts and are already struggling to operate. The Governor’s plan to balance the budget hinges on the passing of his bill, Proposition 30. Proposition 30 is an income tax increase for California’s wealthiest. Those making over 250,000 dollars, or couples making over 500,000; will have a scaling tax increase of 1-3%. The state sales tax will also be increased by .25 percent. The Governor estimates that this will bring in 8.5 billion dollars in revenue. This matched with 8.1 billion in cuts from all areas of the budget will allow Governor Brown to balance the budget. If Proposition 30 is not passed, the Governor has put in place a set of “trigger cuts”. These trigger cuts will automatically cut 5.6 billion from education spending. This will result in K-12 losing three weeks of classes and higher education being forced to cut classes and increase tuition. This is too devastating to allow. The education system is what has made California great, and it should be supported by passing proposition 30.

Proposition 30 is calling on the richest people in California to fund our schools. Prop 30 will get ninety percent of its estimated revenue by raising the income tax on the rich. It does this by creating new tax brackets at 250,000; 300,000; and 500,000. Taxes will increase 1 percent between 250 and 300 thousand, 2 percent between 300 and 500 thousand, and 3 percent over 500 thousand. Someone making 500,000 dollars would have to pay 4,500 dollars in new state taxes. It is not an insignificant amount of money, but it can be afforded. Many of the top earners owe their success to education. It is reasonable to expect them to help continue the high level of education that has been expected here in California. The sales tax increase will not be noticeable for the average person. A hundred dollar purchase will only be charged 25 more cents in tax. This slight increase will provide 10 percent of the expected revenue. This is approximately the amount that will go to community colleges.

California voters are very hesitant to pass tax increases. We already have some of the highest state taxes in the nation. Nine out of the last ten bills that tried to increase taxes were not passed. The state government also has a history of bad money management. Recently 54 million dollars of unreported money was found in the state parks department. This was outrageous because it came at a time when the state was threatening to close parks. People were donating money to save parks that may not have been needed to be saved. The government also did not collect enough money from the federal government to clean up the oil spill in the San Francisco bay. Voters have no faith in the government to manage the money correctly. Proposition 30 will go to support the schools though. Eighty nine percent is guaranteed for K-12 education and the remaining 11 percent is guaranteed to higher education. It is true that this allows movement of general funds to other departments. The argument that the bill helps fund things besides education is true. However, the schools will have 5.4 billion less dollars than if the bill is passed. Without that money the schools and the students will suffer. California needs to be able to educate its people.

Opponents of the bill say that the taxes will hurt businesses. In the struggling economy, every dollar counts. When people are unable to find jobs it does not help that business owners will have less money to pay them. However, education is vitally important to the economy. Educated people are much more employable than the uneducated. This is shown in the drastic increase in average income of people with even just an associate’s degree. Most of the job openings in this economy require education. If our education system is hurt it will hurt the economy. By educating people to fill the jobs it will improve the economy and help us get out of the recession.

I urge everyone to vote yes on Proposition 30. If the bill is not passed California schools will continue to decline. We will no longer be able to be proud of one of the best school systems in the world. On the other hand, if it passes, it will allow California’s schools to continue to operate to the best of their ability. The state will use the money to spend 17 billion dollars over mandated spending on education over the next 4 years. K-12 will not be shortened three weeks and higher education will not have to raise tuition. Important courses will not be cut. The wealthiest citizens of California can afford to support our future. Vote yes this November to balance the budget.