rough draft

Mark Wild

Knapp

English 1A

10/7/12

Proposition 30, California’s last hope.

            Over the past several years the great recession has forced Jerry brown to make vital cuts to California’s Budget, from public transportation to public safety,  the time has come where California’s education is now on the chopping block.  Jerry Brown has already  signed a $6 billion dollar trigger cut out of California’s  Budget next year if nether prop 30 or prop 38 get passes resulting in cutting of more funds from schools, and public services further diminishing the quality of education in California.  Proposition 30 is deemed as California’s last hope before the proposed cuts  as it will increase the overall sales tax  by ¼ cent for four years, as well as increasing personal income tax on incomes ranging from $250,000 - $1,000,000 and allocating %100 (%89 to k-12 and %11 to community colleges) to education . Though it might seem quite rash taxing high income earners  and using the tax revenue to pay for schools in califorinia, it is the only thing we can do to evade an educational collapse. At this time, America is seemingly broken; the middle class is underwater and spreading itself thin, the 2009 recession has affected everyone except for the wealthy elites. If California doesn’t have the money to fund the schools, it is only logical to tax the many millionares %1 more, creating a 6 billion dollar stimulus that will fund the schools.

           

Though proposition 30 is aimed at funding schools, prop 38 is  intended to fund only 60% to K-12 while 30% is to pay off the accumulated debt California is currently faced with. Leaving the remaining 10% to fund early childhood programs. Nevertheless it will impose a sliding scale tax on everyone from the lowest earners  starting at .4% to highest with a 2.2% added tax rate that will last a staggering 12 years. According to Ballotpedia.com it will generate roughly $10 billion dollars annually, for 12 years,  with $6 billion to be circulated through schools, though this does not apply to community college.

            Instead of a sliding scale tax rate, Prop 30 maintains a overall sales tax of a quarter of a penny throughout California, while creating 4 high income tax brackets and imposing a specific tax rate for each of them.  The tax brackets apply to individuals incomes exceeding $250,000, $3000,000, $500,00 and $1,000,000 and will be in affect for 7 years.  For incomes over $250,000 but less then $300,000 it will impose a 1% increase from 9.3% to 10.3%. For incomes ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 it will require a 11.3% tax rate over the current 9.3%. Finally for incomes ranging higher then $500,000 up to $1,000,000 it will burden a 12.3% tax rate.   Though the tax hike will burden the wealthiest in California it will put the tax revenue to good work by infusing it into our schools, specifically community colleges, where there is less funding, overcrowded classrooms and less classes available.

The demand for high quality education is at a all time high, according to the California board of educations website  nearly 6,214,205 students enrolled in k- 12 in California this year and a mear 288,755 teachers  to serve is barley getting by with an average of 21 students per teacher.  Some schools can even average out with 30-45 students per teacher.  According to Californiacommunitycolleges.edu  funding for community colleges has been cut by 12% since 2008, resulting in a $806 million dollar loss. Speculated loss for after January 2013 is another $338 million.  California community colleges enrollment decreased by more than 485,000 students to 2.4 million in 3 academic years from 2008- 2011 due to educational cuts.  Not to mention the course sections were reduced by approximately 24% due to funding reductions, and winter and summer sections were cut a massive 50% to all community colleges in California. With all these staggering cuts to the community colleges in California it has forced the schools to reduce course offerings, increase class sizes, lay off staff, and decrease spending  and loan offers resulting in a catastrophic decrease in overall education for nearly 2.5 million students.

This is unsettling news for me, for I have no other option but to pay for my schooling out of pocket. I know to many students my age who have begun digging them self out of the hole of debt just to wield a degree, and for me the last thing I want to be is in debt. Community College has worked for me because it is cheap enough to allow me to work a coffee shop job, where I can make rent and pay for school every semester. If proposition 30 does not pass it is certain that overall tuition cost for community colleges will raise, making my chance to graduate into the working world ever so unobtainable.  Prop 30 is my only hope to get the community colleges the funding they need to be affordable and have  quality education accessible to everyone.  Vote for Prop 30.