Pay it Forward op ed paper rough draft

Amanda Dailey

October 9, 2012

English 2

Op ed

Pay it Forward

                The economic crisis can be felt throughout the country, but being a student in California’s state schools, you may feel the squeeze get a little tighter. In the past two years California has made over 30 billion dollars in budget cuts, during which public education took a hard hit. With 2.8 billion dollars being cut from California’s higher education alone, we are looking at 8 billion more dollars being gone by the next fiscal year. With these spending cuts California has been ranked 47^th out of 50 states in per pupil spending. This corner cutting not only affects the students, but faculty and teachers, followed by the quality of education provided to said students. With a budget this low tuition costs are said to increase 10 percent to cover school’s debt, along with class cuts, and layoffs of faculty and staff. With California’s working force future in jeopardy, a new plan must be made.

One solution, proposed by Governor Jerry Brown would mean a tax hike followed by billions of dollars in revenue for our schools and public safety. Proposition 30, is a proposal for a temporary increase in income and sales tax for California state residents, with an increase of 10.3% tax rate on taxable income over 250,000 dollars, and a .25% tax hike on sales tax. Based on the California Franchise Tax Board, the tax increase is imposed on California’s top 3% of tax payers.  These tax increases are said to bring an estimates 6.8 to 9 billion dollars in revenue. Proposition 30 decreases class cuts, avoids tuition hikes, prevents a 250 million dollar cut to CSU’s , and frees up 5.6 billion in funding that goes to other public services. Proposition 30 guarantees public safety funding, which can’t be touched without voter approval, and restores balance to our budget, helping to pay off state debt. With what seems like such a low cost for such wealthy California’s following the benefits that exceed all of us, I as a college student say, why not?

What seems to be more prevalent in the research of Proposition 30 is not its benefits, or counter arguments, but the devastating affects if this proposition does not pass. Held over our heads is the dooming 6 billion in immediate cuts to schools from K-12 and state higher education.  The non-solution would propose grade schools to cut 3 weeks of school, and per pupil spending would go from a mighty low 1000 dollars to 700 dollars. These affects might feel more prominent to college students like myself, when state community colleges would be cut 338 million dollars in the middle of the year. Community colleges have already been asked to stretch a very thin dollar. Winter and summer courses are already a rare commodity where I’m from, and enrollment has only decreased more than 485,000 students. With class sizes and layoffs increasing while course selection and staffing decrease, what does this mean for our future as a state?

California’s community colleges provide the largest work force training in the nation. The Public Policy of California estimates “with enrollment decreasing nearly half of a million students in 3 years, by 2025 California will face a shortage of 1 million college degree and certificate holders needed to fuel its workforce”.  California’s community colleges educate 70 percent of our states nurses, and  train 80 percent of our states fire fighters, law enforcement, and medical technicians. But if you like me, a student at a community college looking to transfer, you have nothing but more tuition costs to look forward to. Without proposition 30, students will be turn from the degree they want because of costs, which effects all of our future’s as California residents.

With students turning away from higher education, degrees and certificates in training, what will our future hold? As a 20 year old student, am I looking towards working more hours for lower wages? Our perception of the “American dream” stays the same with our reality contradicting it. America being an immigrant nation, my own parents came to California from Mexico with hopes for me and my siblings. Raised in a catholic home, attending private all girl catholic schools, I always understood the importance of education. I try to never take the opportunities in front of me for granted, but will mine and my parents plan of a degree, which I’ve had since grade school be diminished if my parents can’t afford to send me to the school of my choice. I’m sure there are a lot of families like mine in California that fall into a middle class range, who don’t qualify for state funded financial aid but are expected to pay the tens of thousands of dollars in university tuition. Its families like these that have the hardest time. We’ve all been taught to work hard and get what you deserve; well our current state budget contradicts that. I don’t think we should work hard our entire educational careers to pay more.

No other solution to our budget crisis, produces as much revenue with such little tax hike. Proposition 30 benefits all communities with guaranteed funding for public safety, and the future of our state with more education available and more students able to attend higher education. In opposition, I understand how the Nation Federation of Independent Business California opposes Proposition 30, but I myself am not in the top 3% of income tax payers. I do not make over 250,000 dollars a year, but I think those who do, can afford to pay more taxes, because we all live on this earth, and we are here to help one another.