Blogocentric Formulations

Prop 38

Okay, California. It's time to wake up. As you may or may not have noticed in recent years, our public school system sucks. Forget the talk about school board corruption, unions, bad teachers, and all that stuff; our schools are failing at a basic, fundamental level. Class sizes are ballooning at an alarming rate. Thousands of teachers are out of work, and the ones that are fortunate enough to find employment often find themselves subject to a "temporary" contract which all but ensures that each and every summer they'll be in job limbo, hoping and praying that the next year's budget will have enough money to bring them back or keep their class sections open. And lets not forget how many teachers are spending their own money to buy supplies for their classroom because budget cuts have necessitated schools becoming increasingly stingy with basic supplies like copy paper, dry erase markers, and pens and pencils for their students.

This November, the election will feature Proposition 38 on the ballot which is a "Tax to Fund Education and Early Childhood Programs." I know, I know. Taxes. Eek! How dare they raise our taxes! {e:indignation}

But here's the thing; our schools need money. It doesn't matter how or why or what the background of this issue is... schools need money right now. This proposition offers the following:

Your state income tax will increase (depending on your income) by anywhere from 0.4% to 2.2%. The average single tax filer (assuming an annual income of $48,000-$100,000) would have their income tax rate increased from 9.3% to 10.9%. The average joint tax filers (assuming an annual household income of $96,000-$200,000) would have their income tax rate increased by the same (from 9.3% to 10.9%).

Of that extra tax income, 60% will go directly to K-12 schools, 30% will go directly to repaying state debt, and 10% will go directly to early childhood programs for the first four years. After that, 85% goes to K-12, and 15% to early childhood programs.

These funds are provided on a school-specific, per-pupil basis and are subject to local control, audits and public input to ensure that they are being spend appropriately.

The state legislature cannot take this money and reallocate it to other areas.

The biggest issue with this school fiasco is that the legislature keeps dipping into the education fund when it needs to move money around and cover other expenses. And call me crazy, but I don't think education should be treated like a rainy-day savings account for politicians to dip into and take money out of when they want to make adjustments to other areas of the budget. That won't happen here, because the money is specifically for schools. Any of you who have been hesitant to agree to tax increases without more transparency can rejoice; with Prop 38, you know exactly where your tax dollars are going.

If you live in California and plan to vote this November, please, please vote YES ON PROP 38. Our schools, and by extension our teachers and our children, really need us to reinvest in education. We're one of the most populous and wealthiest states in the union, and yet we have one of the highest student-to-teacher ratios in the country, and we're in the bottom 10% of all states in reading, writing, math, and science performance. We can do better, but schools need the money to hire more good teachers, to reduce class size, to purchase up-to-date textbooks and equipment, and to do the thousand other things that need to be done to get our kids' education back on track.