Vote Yes on 1A, No on All the Rest

I disagree with the Indy's stance on Prop 1B. California has fallen to 47th in the nation in per-pupil funding (http://www.acsa.org/FunctionalMenuCatego...). As our local news in the Indy has shown, schools are falling apart, programs like the arts are being cut and class sizes (one of the few factors that is consistently proven to raise student performance) is continuing to rise. All those mandated state tests cost money too. Santa Barbara is better off than many school districts, so if it's bad here, think about what it must be like for students in less wealthy districts. We have to fund our schools enough to ensure students a quality education. It still stymies me that when teachers say that, they are branded a "special interest group" or "lobbyists."

But I agree with the Indy's stance on all the others and the explanations were helpful.

Why is it that no matter which party is in power, the schools still fail? Furthermore, while the Democrats are more likely to vote for school funding, California schools are still way behind even though Democrats are the predominate party in this state. No, this is not a partisan attack, but I'm thinking (admittedly I don't know what goes on behind closed doors) that the money spent on school lines the pockets of those not directly involved with teaching.

Many times in the past some ballot measure gets touted "going a long way" in helping our education woes, but once it's passed, the same argument is raised about the schools not having enough $$$ and the teachers having to pay out of pocket for basic supplies. (While administrators seem to do just fine when it comes to their incomes)

I know perfectly well that an educated society is more likely to be a peaceful and prosperous one, and I have *no* problem with having my taxes hiked to make this happen, but looking at past experience, even if the pro-school measures pass, we will more than likely have the same problem with our schools.

Could it be that the schools have mismanaged the money they've received? (I remember when we were told how the state lottery would help our schools and once again, the problem still exists) Is their accountability as to how the money is being spent? Why is it that the pro-school Democrats who run California cannot, or will not solve this education crisis? Where does all the money go? Tax me if you must, but make sure *this* time the money actually goes to the *teachers* and not the proverbial "middle man", and lets also make sure methodology is not holding kids back either.

What have the schools done with all the money we have already been forced to give them? Johnny still can't read.

I agree, billclausen. Something stinks.

Nonetheless, the reason we're so smart, is because we always travel in schools.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

These ballot measures were all approved by large majorities by the State Senate and Assembly. Voting NO is a vote for anarchy. I am voting YES on all measures, then holding the Legislature and Governor responsible for the results. We elect those representatives to come up with solutions; to reject their solution without the prospect of an alternative is essentially anarchistic.

Prop1A looks good but is a Trojan horse that will do more harm than good in the long run. Please take the time to read the following analysis.
"Proposition 1A is a modified version of a spending cap, but no one seems to agree upon what it does. It creates a "rainy day fund" that the legislature must put money into even during a bad budget year, even if doing so means cuts to schools and health care. Any revenue that is above the average of revenues over the last ten years must be put into the rainy day fund and cannot be spent on other programs. Because of that clause it will be extremely difficult to reverse the existing cuts to public services, and will force cuts to be made for many years into the future.

Prop 1A amends the constitution, so its effects would be permanent. Because of that, every service that our government provides - schools, health care, police, fire, courts - will eventually be cut. Prop 1A never expires, and will be very difficult to remove from the constitution once it is in place.

The California Budget Project argues (PDF link) that Prop 1A sets up a system that guarantees deficits to at least 2013: $16 billion in deficit in 2010-11, $17 billion in 2011-12, and $21 billion in 2012-13, and potentially well beyond that.

Prop 1A extends some of the recent tax increases, including the sales tax increase, to 2012-13. This money, however, is already largely earmarked to fund the money that schools will receive if Prop 1B passes. If the economy remains in recession, or if the state remains in deficit, the Prop 1A money will not only be insufficient to deal with that deficit, but the rules Prop 1A creates will make it impossible to close that deficit through anything other than cuts. Prop 1A is the worst kind of budget "solution" - something designed for short-term gain that creates truly massive long-term problems."

The Courage Campaign staff recommends you vote No on Prop 1A.

"Why is it that no matter which party is in power, the schools still fail?"

Before Prop 13 California was number 1 in education spending. Now we're at the bottom.

"What have the schools done with all the money we have already been forced to give them?"

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Without new revenues, we are facing catastrophe one way or the other, but Prop 1A will make it much worse in the long run. It's like being given a choice: shoot your dog now (no on Prop 1A), or shoot all dogs two years from now (yes on Prop 1A). The only way out of this situation is to repeal the requirement for a 2/3 vote in the legislature for revenue bills.

WOW! You sure don't get it, Steve_Johnson. Does "of the people, by the people, for the people" ring a (Liberty) bell. Our task as citizens is to ensure the politicians are truly representing the will of the people. One way we do that is by stopping them when they come up hair-brained schemes that divert money from places we the people voted to spend it - in this case it is children and mental health. I agree with all of the Independent's recommendations except the last. 1F is the only one that actually stops some spending in times of economic crisis, and directly from the legislators who have the responsibility to prevent the crisis in the first place.

"Why is it that the pro-school Democrats who run California cannot, or will not solve this education crisis? "

How can people in California not know that there is 2/3 rule, passed as part of Prop 13, that allows a small number of Republican ideologues in the state legislature to block all revenue increases?

"1F is the only one that actually stops some spending in times of economic crisis"

1F prevents pay increases for legislators during deficit years. The amount of money involved is a tiny teeny percentage of the budget, and won't change the behavior of any legislator. It's pure pandering in place of an actual solution to anything.

"I remember when we were told how the state lottery would help our schools and once again, the problem still exists"

I remember how we were told that the lottery would not increase gambling, there would be no advertisements, that only existing gamblers would play. How gullible did people have to be to believe that? About as gullible as anyone who believes that it provides significant funds to the schools. See http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2007/0703_sff_lo...

"Lottery funds accounted for 4.6 percent of total K-12
spending in 1985-86, but only 1.9 percent in 2005-06 (Figure 1)."

People would have a lot less to complain about if they weren't so intellectually lazy and driven by their emotions, and actually informed themselves before voting ... and after voting to see if their beliefs were valid.

Re: Bill Clausen's Question About the Lottery:

In terms of lottery funds, I think the lack of accountability isn't from schools, but has more to do with the shell game state representatives play with the state budget. My mom was on a school board in a California district from 1982-1992, when all the lottery stuff got started in this state. She said that lottery money didn't really help because the state would use the lottery money for schools, but then decrease funding from other parts of the state budget, with the justification of "oh, well they have the lottery money now." But she said that the lottery money had more strings attached -- to my memory schools couldn't use it for "material" improvements, such as new classrooms or books, and I think they also couldn't use it for teacher salaries. So this created more work for school boards (who remember are essentially volunteers) who had to spend more time on creative budgeting.

The state does the same thing with environmental funding. Those oil rigs we have to look at pay the state of California, and the money was supposed to go into a fund for land preservation, parks, and environmental clean up. But our state legislature put the money into its general fund and then levied a "parks pass" (read "additional tax") law in the 90's because they said that the state Forest Service and regional parks were underfunded. These agencies had funding, but the state had appropriated it and misused it.

What's funny is that people like Bill Clausen then turn around and blame the schools and agencies like the Forest Service for "mismanaging" their money. I understand why he would think so, but I hope he and others understand that these agencies didn't mismanage it -- the state took their funding away.

Now the state wants to do the same with Mental Health Funding, First 5, and the little bit of the lottery fund that still goes to schools. Our people have already voted to have these funds go to these services, and this funding should not go into the slush fund that legislators use to fund their pet pork barrel projects. We need to "just say no" to their money addiction.

Read

http://www.independent.com/news/2009/may...

Bottom line:

"This popular public mindset — simultaneously ruling out serious spending reductions, revenue increases, and the one reform that might make either option politically viable — is, for lack of a better word, irrational, and ensures that the gridlock in Sacramento won’t be broken anytime soon."

Whine and moan all you want, but that don't change a damn thing ... rather, things will just keep getting worse as long as the 2/3 rule is in effect and Californians refuse to provide funding for services.

I agree with JayB's comments regarding Prop 13 and the 2/3 majority vote rule.

Jay B -- Thanks for the link to the great article! I agree with your point.

I think it might be a good idea for all of us who are educators in this state to keep copies of that article on hand. Then when parents or our university students ask why students don't get the personal hand-holding, special equipment, special programs, new books, immaculately-maintained buildings, or the other services they feel they deserve because "they are the taxpayers," we can just hand them a copy of the article and tell them to call their state representatives.

It is true that 1F does not save any appreciable amount of money, but it should tell the members of the legislature that we are fed up with their stupidity in re the budget.

I agree, Imeoriole.
So far, the only argument I have heard to not vote for 1F is simply, “It won't make a dent and won't change anything” Well, so what?? If it does nothing more than make a symbolic statement and allow the CA. citizens a collective moment of venting our outrage, then it serves more purpose than not. Such "gestures of contempt" are indeed satisfying! It seems an absurd statement to say, "It's silly and irrelevant , so vote no." besides, It takes no more effort or ink to vote 'yes'.
Also.....
I was lucky enough to grow up here in SB during the late 60’s /70’s for my early education, and I can tell by the resources my daughter brings home and has available at her school today, that I was a pretty lucky kid. I had it good as far as school resources went. We had regular field trips, our OWN workbooks, small class sizes offering much more attention to the students, etc.
The number of “bake sales”, “car washes” and other fund raising events that took up my daughters and our families weekends just to cover basic things like paper or crayons in the classroom made me sick.
To some of the other comments here--If you don’t have kids, or flunked out of school because you didn’t care or were unfortunate enough to have parents who didn’t care, then I would expect you not to care that education is continually being cut and crumbling here in CA, however, there is truth to the cliché, “The children are our future”.
As in family life, we, as a society, will get from our youth what we invest in them. If we neglect our children at home when they are young, you can be sure they will neglect you when your old. Same goes for California and it’s children.