Proposal

California’s schools are in severe trouble and we as taxpayers and voters need to do something about it before they are beyond repair. Proposition 30 is a start in getting our educational systems back into the right direction. Prop. 30 will be on this Novembers ballot, and we as tax paying voters, parents, and students need to approve the proposition in order to prevent drastic continued cuts in K-12 schools and community colleges. Proposition 30 purposes a state generated revenue gain of around 6 billion dollars from 2012-13 through 2016-17. This revenue will be allocated to K-12 schools, community colleges, and public safety services. The greater of the money will be going directly to education. This revenue will be provided by a temporary 4 year sales tax increase of ¼ cent, meaning every 4 dollars you spend you will get taxed an extra penny, and by raising income taxes on an individual who earns over $250,000 a year. More specifically their income tax will increase by 1%-3% depending on the amount they earn per year. If proposition 30 does not pass their will be a $5.4 billion cut from grade schools and community colleges in effect immediately. This type of budget cut for schools will have a severe effect on class size, tuition costs, programs available, length of school year, and various other ways. With our schools budgets already at the lowest they have been in over 7 years we as a state cannot afford to make these kinds of cuts. Education is a necessity in all aspect of life. It keeps us working as a nation to achieve, without a strong system in place we begin to lose our hopes that with hard work you can become what you want in life.

Logos:

The logical reasoning that I will use in my op-ed is that if proposition 30 does not pass, then over $6 billion dollars will be cut from public schools, community colleges, and public safety services. This will cause more layoffs within schools, causing even larger class sizes then already exist, higher tuition rates at university, and cutting more programs and classes at community colleges; causing spaces lost for students. Education provides people the opportunity for success, if we don’t put funds into the system and make it a priority we will lose out as a nation. As Anthony Carnevale states in his article The Real Education Crisis is Just Over the Cliff “The real story is that this country is disinvesting in higher education at an alarming rate—as it has been doing for decades—and we are hurtling into the future unprepared for the economy that awaits us.” If paying an extra 20 cents on every hundred dollars you spend isn’t worth keeping our school systems from falling to pieces then I’m not sure what is.

Pathos:
If we don’t work together as a nation, and make some sacrifices for educational purposes, ultimately the American dream will fail. Our school systems have been on a steady decline since 2009, and if prop. 30 fails there will be another round of cuts even more drastic then before. As a 27 year old, I have been employed full time for the last 8 years of my life, and I have worked for the last 11. I have lived from paycheck to paycheck my entire life and I have been making plenty over minimum wage, enough for the state to take out between 6%-8%, that is only 1.3% less then someone who earns $249,000 a year (at the moment a person who earns $48,029 gets taxed the same as someone who earns $249,999). For a very long time I have been wanting to go back to school, but due to tuition rates, lack of nursing programs; due to funding, and my own mental stability of not being able to work 40 hours a week and be involved in a high intensity school program. It has taken me over 5 year to be at a point in my life where the opportunity to start back at school again has arose. My “American Dream” is to be a registered nurse, where I could make a good living, maybe pay off a bill or two, and to share my empathy for humanity with others. Due to the lack of nursing programs there are wait lists of 4-5 years and lottery type situations to get into a certified program at community colleges throughout the state. They estimate that there will be a greater demand then nurses available, partial due to the lack of programs, which is greatly due to our educational crisis. This could mean my goals will be put on hold until I get lucky enough to get accepted in a nursing program, not because I haven’t gotten good enough grades, or earned it, but simply because there is no funding in education. There are many students and hopeful students just like me, and I guarantee I am one of the luckily ones. If proposition 30 does not pass because we cannot pay a few cents more a meal, or some of the wealthiest families in California can’t afford to pay 1% more a year then someone who earns 3 times less then them, then not only nursing programs, but all educational programs at the college level will receive budget cuts. This fact gives me the feeling of heart break.

Ethos:

I'm a full time student, and employee. I pay taxes and also pay for my education. I'm pursuing a degree in nursing that does not have enough funding to provide spaces for the amount of students who qualify into the program. I have researched many articles on the higher education issues in California, as well read and understand all aspects of what proposition 30 purposes.

Annotated Bibliography

O'Leary, Kevin "The Legacy of Proposition 13" Time U.S. Time 27 June 2009. Web. 21 Sept 2012. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1904938,00.html>

The author, Kevin O'Leary, speaks about the financial crisis in California being due to the passage of proposition 13. Prop. 13 was a anti-tax measure over property-tax assesements that was passed in 1978, and including a 2/3 vote requirement for the passage of any new taxes in California. Because of this proposition passing California can not supply the budget needed for state services including higher education and public schools. Due to the recession many indiviuals survive off of state funding, while working and going to school. This article relates to proposition 30 because its a tax measure in California that needs to get passed in order to get some balance back into the education system.

Carnevale, Anthony P. "The Real Education Crisis is Just Over The Cliff" The Chronicle of Higher Education N.p. 10 June 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. <http://chronicle.com/article/The-Real-Education-Crisis-Is/132167/>

The author, Anthony P. Carnevale, who is the director of the Georgetown University Center on Education discusses how the lack of investment that the U.S. is putting towards higher education is only hurting themselves for the future. If we continue at this rate not only will our education systems be beyond repair, but so will the state of our nation. The government has not only been cutting funds from post-secondary schools, but they have also cut the budget of Pell Grants and are messing with student loans. Most people rely on these loans and grants for schooling. Carnevale also explains how the rate of jobs requiring college degrees and education has exceeded the number of college graduates more and more each year. The article relates directly to the importance of Proposition 30 and how essential it is for future funding in California schools.

Reader Response #1

    In the article "Idiot Nation" Michael Moore discusses the intelligence of our society. Moore talks about politicians, ivy league college graduates, and everyday people, from high school students to people of the work force and their lack of intelligence about our nation. He also covers how public schools are run and funded, and the lack of respect that teachers in our society receive. Overall, Moore is disgusted with the education system in the United States and directly relates it to the lack of intelligence that American people have about important issues in our country.
    This article was part of his book Stupid White Men...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! written in 2002. Moore starts with the illiteracy in America, and how much more T.V. is watched then time spent reading. He talks about the ignorance the people who run our nation have, and about prestigious universities who fail in teaching their graduates high school level material. He then ends with discussing the sad state American public schools and librarys are in, and why we should be blaming the politicians and not the teachers. This particular selection seems to be aimed at high school students, since it summarizes with  a "How to fight back against your high school" section.
    I agree very strongly with many of the points Moore makes in this article. I think its crazy how we blame the teachers for our failing educational system. How about the lack of funding in public schools and the continued budget cuts. I also believe that standardised testing is a lousy way of rating actual intelligence, just because testing scores get better, does not mean that this society has done our job in producing great students and teachers. It's not just the teachers that need to be held accountable, but its the system behind the education that needs to take responsibility for what they have done to the budget, not only on funding to schools, but also the kind of funding behind paying our teachers. If you want passionate, hard working individuals who are basically bring up our children into adults, you need to pay them what they deserve, which I guarantee is much more then most our earning.
    I think in this article Moore does too much running of the mouth in certain areas. He talks a lot about the stupidity of current and past politicians, but has fairly petty examples. It also seems as if he is attacking the schools who have made deals with commercial sponsorships, when the school is simply just trying to gain more money for the children. It's definitely the companies who are the ones to blame, they are giving a ridiculous low percent of actual contribution to the schools, in return for being able to claim that they are making a differences in childrens lives.
    I really enjoyed reading this article. It made me think about our schooling systems and how controversial they are. When you sum up "Idiot Nation" by Moore it's really about the blaming game America likes to play with its major faults.

Week #1

http://www.mercurynews.com/elections/ci_21374874/california-voters-prefer-gov-jerry-browns-tax-measure

The article I read talks not only about proposition 30, but also proposition 38, which is basically the opposing proposition. It states that proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Browns tax initiative, will increase income tax on people who make more than $500,000 a year, and increase sales tax by a quarter cent. This will raise $6 billion a year, which is the amount that would have to be cut from schools if the proposition fails. Proposition 38, civil rights attorney Molly Mungers initiative, is a similar deal, except that it will increase income tax for almost everyone, besides those who make around $7,000 and under a year. It would raise $10 billion a year for the next 12 years.
The article is mainly about the current polling for the proposition. It states that proposition 30 currently has a small lead for online polls, but after a radio ad from the opposing side polls have dropped around 2%. Online surveys are considered controversial to some pollsters, but they try to reflect the demographics of people in California who would likely vote.

My current thoughts on proposition 30:
I have been a registered voter for about 7 years now. I have not voted one time in my life. I understand a lot of people look down upon this, but I have always felt if I didn't feel like I was making a well educated choice then I shouldn't vote just because it's what your "suppose to do". Proposition 30 is the first proposition I have researched into, besides listening too or watching advertisement. When I first read about the proposition, my immediate instinct was to support it. I, nor anyone in my family makes over $250,000 a year and if sales taxes need to go up a quarter-cent for 4 years to avoid budget cuts in K-12 and community colleges then why wouldn't I support the initiative. As I began reading more articles and comments that people would make on articles, my sceptic side began to grow. Will this money really not be guaranteed to go directly to schools and teachers? Is this money only to pay for pensions? I am very unclear of how to make a educated choice on whether it's fair that hard working people will have even more taxes taken from them, in a state where the income tax rate is beyond crazy for the middle class, I can't imagine how much of every paycheck is being taken out of someone who makes $250,000 a year. These are my thoughts so far on proposition 30 and I'm looking forward to learning more about how to find out where the money would actually go if this proposition passed.