Our country is in a serious economic crisis and an education has become increasingly more difficult to obtain for many people because of the incredibly low budget schools are forced to run on. Along with the budget cuts every school is being forced to cut out faculty, students, and crucial programs making it almost unattainable for so many in a state where anything should be attainable. Proposition 30, proposed by Governor Jerry Brown, would temporarily increase income and sales tax for those in the state of California. If Prop. 30 passes in November we could see the budget gap reduced drastically helping out schools and public safety in California making the “dream” more attainable for everyone.
Proposition 30 will provide funding for K-12 schools and California’s higher education from a temporary four year income tax increase to individuals earning more that 250,000 dollars or couples together earning 500,000 dollars. More revenue would come from a statewide .25 percent increase on sales tax (25 cents/ $100). 90 percent of Prop. 30’s revenue would be generated from taxing the highest earners to fund public education and safety. If passed, Prop. 30 would fund K-12 schools in California, which would avoid cutting three weeks of school the next school year, a 250 million dollar cut to CSU’s is prevented which would help avoid class cuts, layoffs and enrollment cuts, 5.6 billion dollars would be freed up which could go to higher education, health care and other services, while a tuition buy-out for this year gets funded which CSU students would actually get a tuition refund of 498 dollars. If Prop. 30 does not pass, those three weeks would be cut out of the school year for K-12 schools creating problems for families and less education for students. CSU’s would face a 250 million dollar cut resulting in many problems such as: class cuts, layoff of faculty, staff, and even more enrollment cuts. CSU students can also expect an additional 150-dollar tuition increase for classes this spring.
Community colleges are suffering as well, and if Prop. 30 is not passed they will face even more cuts and funding will decrease even more (7.3 %). Already Cabrillo has had to cut about four hundred classes some from every discipline across campus over the past three to four years. Course offerings have decreased by almost ten percent since Fall of 2011. Not to mention that staff, tutors, services, and hours have all been cut or drastically reduced. If Prop. 30 does not pass these trends will continue, while students will continue to pay more and more for tuition fees and books, while the students are essentially, paying more money for less commodities. Cabrillo will need to cut one in every thirteen classes in the schedule, while they will be losing space for seven hundred and eighty full time students.
As a college student I have seen these budget cuts first hand, and seen what these affects have on students, families, teachers, and the community. When I first began attending Cabrillo College in the spring of 2009, classes were large and many people were turned away from classes due to size and were forced to try again in a later semester due to the budget cuts, class sizes and classes as a whole were being cut each semester. Since then, it has only become worse, classes are at maximum capacity forcing teachers to add more students than is possible, making it difficult for students to get the classes they need. Not to mention tuition has continued to increase every semester from 26 dollars per unit of spring 2010 now reaching 46 dollars per unit in 2012. These increases in tuition every semester have forced me only to sign up for the classes I need to transfer, nothing that could seem interesting to me. It has limited me from branching out and trying new things and experiencing what college should be like, trying to explore new classes and ideas and I feel has been a factor in choosing a major. If Proposition 30 doesn’t pass I can’t imagine what will happen at Cabrillo, an additional cut of 7.3% which would result in losing space for 780 students would force the classes to be larger with the higher demand and larger amount of students. One in thirteen classes would be cut as well as eliminating five average sized programs or majors forcing students to miss out on opportunity to branch out and try different classes and more importantly it is taking jobs away from teachers.
A counterpoint to my argument would be that it simply is not fair to tax those that make more than 250,000 dollars annually. Many people believe it should be spread out evenly in order for schools to get the money we should all be paying even amounts. Drastic times count for drastic measures and if we want to save education in California we need the highest earners to take action and help out the state by understanding what this tax is for and how important it is for the future of California. Some believe there should be others ways to fund education rather than continuing to raise sales taxes. But time is simply running out and as a state so are the funds. We must quickly and effectively save the education system and by these increases in taxes all going into the EPA fund we can ensure that these funds are safe and will be used the right way within the public education system, community colleges, CSU’s, and public safety.
I plan to continue to attend college and am looking at transferring to a CSU very soon and look forward to getting an education in California. If Prop. 30 wasn’t to pass I don’t know if that would be possible. My chances of being accepted would decrease, many classes would be cut, and tuition may be something I simply cannot afford. This has revealed to me what the state is doing to students, oppressing us by taking away so much from our education while we continue work so hard. The state is only taking things away from us by cutting billions of dollars from K-12 schools and colleges yet continue to increase tuition and expect us to continue to pay these absurd amounts for what is less of an education. It feels like our future is coming down to what happens at the polls this November, Proposition 30 must pass if we want to see a bright future in education and even for the coming generation to be able to experience education the right way, and the way it should be. I know I’m not the only one with this problem, many people in California are facing these same consequences and the future of California is in our hands forcing us to get out and vote for Proposition 30 to revamp education in this wonderful state we are so fortunate to live in.
Works Cited:
Reynolds, Mark. Op-Ed“Proposition 30 Won’t Fix California Budget Issues.”IVN, 10 Sept. 2012. Web.
Blumenstyk G. If Prop 30 Fails, What Then?. Chronicle Of Higher
Education [serial online]. August 17, 2012;58(44):31. Available from:
Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA.
Students for Quality Education (www.csuge.org/chapters)
Yesonprop30.com
No comments:
Post a Comment