California Governor Jerry Brown has assembled a broad coalition to support a tax increase to make up for the devastating budget cuts to public education under his predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Brown’s levy would raise the sales tax by 1/4 of 1% and increase income taxes of those making over $250,000 a year.
A wealthy heiress who also supports public schools prefers her own tax package and she is pouring more than $30 million of her personal fortune into attacking Brown’s measure amd promoting her own.
This is nuts.
Vote for Prop 30.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dear Ms. Ravitch,
I have often agreed with you and appreciated your eloquence, but we seem to diverge on Prop. 30 and your seeming acceptance of CCSSI. I’ve detailed my views on both in a piece in today’s FlashReport: http://www.flashreport.org/featured-columns-library0b.php?faID=2012101104405213
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Seeming acceptance? Please explain.
People who want to help public education should work together not attack one another.
The governor is an elected official.
If he is trying to do the right thing, work with him.
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What do you mean that Gov. Brown is “trying to do the right thing”? My article makes clear that I believe he’s doing the wrong thing, namely spending $2 billion on standards that CA. does not need, then, in the face of this waste, asking voters to increase their own taxes to support the schools. Let him apply that $2 billion to the schools, instead of to publishers and test writers (the lobbies behind CCSSI), then he’ll have the credibility to ask for more taxes.
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Diane,
I absolutely appreciate your position here. But California schools cannot afford to take the chance that Props 30 and 38 will split the vote and both fail. Our funding situation is already desperate. So many California organizations that support public education, including CSBA and the parent group Educate Our State, are begging voters to vote yes on both propositions. According to state law the one that gets the most votes will go into effect.
I agree it would be better to carefully choose which proposition is better written, but we just can’t take the risk.
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Diane,
Thank you for mentioning Prop 30 and voicing your support!
I teach high school English in south San Diego. Each school district is handling budget cuts in different ways. In my district, our teacher contract for this year includes three furlough days – three days where there is no school, students lose out on their education, and all school personnel do not get paid. That is bad enough, but if Prop 30 does not pass, we will have an additional 11 furlough days!!
That’s right, if Prop 30 does not pass, our students will LOSE OVER TWO WEEKS of their education in my district. Parents will have to scramble to figure out what to do with their children on those days. And of course, as a teacher, I will lose pay. In fact, these possible 14 furlough days (the 3 we already have as well as the 11 we may have if Prop 30 fails) amount to approximately an 8% pay cut!!! And to make matters worse for us teachers, my school district has already taken away that 8% in cuts – just in case Prop 30 fails. In other words, if Prop 30 passes, then teachers will get back the 8% of their pay which was taken from them in our December pay check. Here’s hoping!
I know other districts are taking similar measures to deal with all of the budget cuts. Proposition 30 will restore education funding across the state. PLEASE VOTE YES ON PROP 30 if you live in California!!
(Things are a bit confusing for voters here because there are competing propositions about education funding, Prop 30 and 38. The California Teachers Association has put out a comparison: http://blog.cta.org/2012/10/04/how-do-propositions-30-and-38-compare/)
Thank you, Diane, for your tireless support of public education. I have been a loyal reader of your blog since it began earlier this year. Many days, it is you and your blog that keep me going. It is so hard to be a public school teacher these days.
Mary
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Thank you Mary! I will be In San Diego in April 15 to speak at National School Boards Association
Diane Ravitch
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I am very disappointed with this turn in the race. I think it’s possible for both propositions to run positive campaigns and to work together to ensure at least one measure passes in California. I happen to prefer prop 30 and will be happy to discuss why, at length 🙂 , if anyone wishes; I’m also open to new understandings of how 38 would work. Either are better than the status quo and I will vote for both.
In California, the state is arbitrarily debiting our ADA by around 25% and they’re arbitrarily deferring payments for the money due this year until next fiscal year, which means that even districts that have a positive budget are scrambling to have enough cash on hand to cover payroll. All this time managing the budget is taking time and resources away from the kids.
The legislature has passed language that will allow districts to cut back to 160 instructional days if prop 30 fails and the trigger cuts are enacted. 160 days!
What we need is money back in the district general funds to replace the services that each district has cut, rather than a prescription for some new money that can only be spent in specific, particular ways.
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I would say, though, that “Wealthy heiress has temper tantrum” is a bit over the top and not exactly productive to a cooperative discussion. Obviously she cares about kids, and while I quibble with many of the specifics in her initiative (she seems to have assumed that we all made the same spending choices as LAUSD), I have no quibble with her intentions or her commitment to doing right by the kids. Demonizing her helps nothing.
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