Final edit

Education in the United States is in a steady state of decline. In a time where American jobs have become more advanced, having well rounded, educated students is more important than ever. A steady stream of cuts over the past few years has resulted in a decrease in both the quality and motivation of our students. According to the LA times, when Jerry brown took office we were about $25 million dollars in debt, and since then we have experienced many large cuts to the general fund. It is now the smallest share in our history; I think it’s time to get our priorities straight in California. As a first year college student, I have witnessed the impact of these cuts in all aspects of public school; I recognize the value of education, how important it is to have teachers who care and a school with enough resources to sustain an intelligent student body. This is why I believe you should vote yes on Proposition 30.

Jerry Brown’s proposition 30, is a measure that will result in a slight increase in taxes (About 1/4^th of a cent in sales tax for four years, and 1-3% raise in income tax for people who make $250,000 or more, for seven.). This money will be put towards k-12 schools (89%), community colleges (11%) and public safety. This goes back to proposition 98, which states that at least half of the general fund must be used for education, and this money can fulfill that requirement and frees up $5. billion that can go to things like higher education and healthcare. The left over money can go towards filling the gaps in our various public safety programs. If the measure is denied, we will be facing $4.8 Billion in “trigger cuts” to many important programs in California.  These cuts will most likely devastate the already crumbling system, and will cause many students to not be able to afford higher education at all.

Education is the best way to prepare our people to work and find jobs in this advancing market. Many jobs require much more than on the job training, they also require a general education. People need to have all the necessary critical thinking and writing skills if they want to be able to keep up with the world today. This country was once valued for its strength in education, and is now one of the lower ranking countries in that area. Countries like India and china have a much higher rate of graduate students, even accounting for their much larger populations. I feel like if the school system continues to decline like it has been, more and more jobs will be outsourced, and all of this will continue to weaken our middle class.

Critics argue that this proposition is just another way for politicians to take more of your money without giving back to schools at all. They claim that this is nothing but a “shell game”; supposedly they will be able to remove the money by taking the existing money for schools and replacing it with the money from the new taxes. They claim these “massive hikes” in taxes won’t go to schools at all and it will only put California in even worse debt. In the actual proposition, it is stated that there will be strong fiscal control over this problem, adding to the constitution that the money will go into a special account called the Education Protection Account (EPA), guaranteed only to be used for schools. They claim that the money will be audited every year to assure that its being spent where they say it will, they have authorized criminal prosecution for misuse of the funds. This proposition differs from others such as Proposition 13, because they plan on giving more control of the money to smaller governments, so that the public can help make decisions for the schools in their communities.

Over the past four years, there have been more than $56 billion dollars to education and public safety. These cuts have affected everybody from the elderly, to schoolchildren, and everyone in between. If we really want to change our economy in California we need to do things differently, why not put some of the focus on the next generation? I believe that young people today deserve to have a chance to follow their dreams, whether that is the American dream or something completely out of the box. In Monterey country, where I went to high school, they passed a measure called ‘Measure P’. This measure is similar to Proposition 30 because is imposed a similar rise in taxes and allowed many schools in my district to begin getting repaired. This measure passed because there are a lot of high income people in Monterey County, and they recognized the need for improvement in our schools. At my school alone the amount of work taking place was staggering, it was great to see how excited the students body and staff was. I honestly believe this is a lot of the reason our test scores and attendance got so much better that year. It seemed like once everyone realized the district was taking our school and education seriously, we felt like we should take it seriously as well.

            Now that I’m in college, I can now see the effect this economy is going to have on my future. Over the last few years, tuition has raised 89%, 400 classes were cut and the overall course offerings have gone down 10%. Cabrillo has some of the most amazing libraries and tutoring opportunities I’ve ever seen, and now I’m finding out that hours have been decreased. It’s nearly impossible to enroll in classes, and I absolutely cannot imagine how much worse it will be if proposition 30 doesn’t pass. I do know that we will lose space for 780 students and many more classes will be cut. I know that many more young people may give up, and might decide that school isn’t worth the trouble. I’m very thankful that I’m not the type to give up, and I have a lot of faith in my generation. I hope that the rest of California can see how much we deserve this, and I hope that every student going to school right now has the strive to be your best.