Opinion: Prop. 30 is a good thing for LTCC
By Kindred Murillo
As the debate on how to vote on Proposition 30 has raged on, many of us have stayed in the background because it is hard to advocate to our family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors to vote yes on a proposition that has been described as “holding a gun to the voters’ head.” While it is unfortunate that automatic “trigger” cuts have become the preferred method of the Legislature for addressing our state’s budget woes, it also provides an opportunity for us as Californians to be clear on what we value by even more closely linking our voice to our vote.
It is for this reason that it is important to really understand what is at stake. If Proposition 30 fails, the reality is that California K-12 districts, community colleges, and university system will suffer further reductions that will have crippling effects on the education of our youth. These reductions would be on top of the past four years of continued cuts of more than $800 million for the community college system alone. Most of our educational systems are operating at pre-2007-08 budget levels.
Kindred Murillo
Further reductions to education, particularly for community colleges, threaten our ability to maintain access to higher education, and in particular access for small rural communities like ours. Small educational districts are already stretched to the maximum trying to provide a quality education to their local communities. Here at Lake Tahoe Community College we have had to cut classes and reduce staffing over the past four years. This next round of cuts to our budget will force us to cut critical services that will directly impact our students.
Until now we have kept many of the cuts away from services to students because of our commitment to access and student success. This next reduction of almost $700,000 will begin eroding the critical educational and student support services of our local college that have been essential to not only access, but the success and achievement of our students.
Did you know Lake Tahoe Community College transfers more students to the University of California system that colleges two and three times our size? Did you know that last year we graduated the most students in the 38-year history of LTCC? Not only that, but we issued $2.5 million in Pell grants to our students and gave out almost $80,000 in scholarships last year. This is on top of our almost $10 million payroll and multiple services provided to our local area. We are an integral part of the South Shore community and economy as well as the only public higher education institution in the basin.
Ensuring access to higher education is critical to our local economy and the well being of our local community. As you fill out your ballot, please consider the future of our local community, our state, and our nation; and the importance of educating our current and future generations.
A continued cycle of reductions to education means less opportunity for our children, grandchildren, and their children. This is why I am writing to urge your yes vote on Proposition 30. While I disagree with the way the budget “trigger cuts” have been focused on education, I am more concerned with the harm to our students, our staff, and our community of further reductions to our K-12 and higher education systems.
Kindred Murillo is superintendent-president of Lake Tahoe Community College.
Again, the Gov. is crying wolf over a self serving and created debacle with tax payers moneies. If the legislators including Gov. Moonbeam had not been so.o.o.o myoptic over the past 40 years with their power hungry decissions, the State would not be in this position!!! Time to cut out the FAT at The TOP. Live within the States means and quite bleeding the working business people of this once great State. Get out of Sacto., go back to work and see what it is really like to pay these horrendous taxes that already exist.
Education IS very important otherwise we will just have a ‘Slave Class’ that just toils for the bureaucrates. Protect our services and our children by CLEANING HOUSE IN SACTO.!! NOV. 6 IS COMING FAST!
This article and tax is only meant to cover your and other ‘FAT ADMINISTRATORS’ LOOMING EXPENSES!!
Hacking at LTCC has been systemic for many years. Wonder if this has any relation to 4 head administrators in around 6 years. Seems the PC lab might have got cleaned up. The Mac lab has been a joke as far as hacking and accessibility go this fall. Sad that people who want to be more productive have to deal with a school that has systemic hacking at the taxpayers expense.
Don’t reward legislators and politicians with more tax increases for their mismanagement, tricks, deception, overspending, bogus forecasts, bullet train to nowhere, and secret hidden funds.
Why should California have the highest taxes in the nation to pay for all this nonsense. Vote NO on Prop. 30.
Cause if we don’t pass it, automatic cuts to education will happen?
It is being held hostage, but we don’t need to get any dumber, in fact we need to get our edge back.
Is there another way to vote legislation in to cut waste, and/or vote the bums out?
Vote NO on Prop 30. Schools need to cut back like everyone else. We’re being taxed to death to cover everything in existence.
Lake Tahoe News continues to promote it’s liberal tax & spend agenda. Can you please include some balance to your articles ?
We are already being taxed to death for schools. Just take a look at your property tax bill. I know mine includes an additional $300 every year just for the bond measures that have been passed under the exact same threats of pending doom for our education system.
No matter how much tax we pay, it will NEVER be enough for some. It is time for fiscal restraint and to reduce California’s overgrown bureaucracy.
PLEASE VOTE NO ON PROP 30. THANKS!
‘Lake Tahoe News continues to promote it’s liberal tax & spend agenda. Can you please include some balance to your articles ?’
Arty, correct me if I’m wrong, but the above piece is an opinion peice, not an article, written by a person not affiliated with LTN.net, and is appearing in the Voices (opinion, letter to the editor) section. And once again I will point out to you that by virtue of allowing your comment (nad others), LTN.net doesn’t seem to be discriminating aginst those with an opposing viewpoint to that of the author.
All one needs to do is witness the never-ending, redundant, do-over work of CalTrans on Hwy. 50 to see that our state still has money to burn. I mean what good is a road if they’re working on it every Summer?
And Tahoe residents should REALLY be opposed to Prop. 30, as it will make shopping off the hill an even better value!
We’ve been cutting and cutting already and it needs to stop. Cuts aren’t always the answer.
I am voting YES because I believe in the future of our kids, the next generation. Educate the kids and they’ll be able to create a great future.
– Stop another $6 billion in cuts to our schools this year.
– Prevent steep tuition hikes for college students and their families.
-Invest in our schools and colleges so we can prepare the next generation for the jobs of the future.
http://youtu.be/eCgUlM1ZM6Y
I am not rich, I don’t have the money, but if a few cents a day will make a difference, I’m in.
1. I would like to apologize to LTN for my previous statement about having “liberal tax & spend agenda”…that was not accurate and certainly not deserved. Kae does a great job for our community.
2. To 30yearlocal…I think the problem with education is not going to get better because you contribute “a few more cents a day”. Take a look at this article for example:
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/86ing-the-arguments-for-california-props-30-38/
There does not seem to be any correlation between dollars spent and the status of our system.
The articles from the cato(koch bros.)institute always support privatizing All the commons, including education. If you think it’s a good idea to make profit the #1 priority in running schools then you’ll be voting no. If you support a “We the People” society as opposed to a “Me the People” ayn rand sociopathic paradise then you’ll be voting Yes.
Maybe a little clarity is in order regarding education spending in this state. California spends (2010 $) $9,375/student or 35th in the nation, 12% below the national average. Private schools (my daughter has attended private schools in the Bay Area since Kindergarten) in California charge well over that, in fact my daughter’s private high school tuition is over $15,000 and they require another $2000 donation as the tuition does not cover the cost of her education. A number of other private schools charge much more than this. So, if society desires/requires an educated workforce to compete on the global market, then we need to do better. Being in the top 2-3% of wage earners in this state, my wife and I pay more taxes then most of you and we will clearly be voting YES on Prop 30. Enjoy, Rick
Oh of course, it’s not about 1 in 8 CA state employees getting 100k in salary, not including benefits. Prop 30 is being framed as, “Children won’t get to go to school if this doesn’t pass!”
that 1 in 8 number is false, you have no data to back it up.
Rick I plan to cancel your yes vote as well as my 13 brothers and sisters who also vote at this address. The voting people just said send in as many voter registrations as you want. It was sure easy and they even mail the ballot to me and my family and we never have to leave the house to vote. What a country.
How quickly we must forget as we age. When I was a child I had the opportunity to attend public school. We had a bus that stopped at the end of our street to take us to school and return us home. We had good teachers who cared about us and our future. We had decent facilities and class sizes small enough so teachers could manage. We had sports and music and art and I participated in all in almost every extracurricular activity offered. I am guessing that some of you with the negative comments were offered the same opportunities as children. We owe it to our children to make sure they have the same opportunities. Is there going to be some “waste” in the system? Of course there is. Have you ever tried to manage a multi-billion dollar budget with no waste? Should we punish the children because of it? In case you haven’t noticed, the children our our future. When we are old and need assistance, it will be the children of today that will become the doctors and nurses that will care for us. What if they said one day, screw the old people. There is too much waste in the system. Let’s cut medicare and social security and let them figure out how to make ends meet. Is there waste in medicare? Sure, there is but do we have a better system to replace it? Please don’t let the children suffer. Vote yes on Prop 30.
Tahoe Parent, YOU ROCK!
HEALTHY, EDUCATED CHILDREN!!!
That should be the NUMBER ONE priority of this nation!
The 1 in 8 figure is from articles in both the SF Chronicle and SacBee. And it’s not based on base pay, but rather when all the overtime that’s been finagled is factored in.
In fact last May the Chronicle did a piece about the staff employed to guard the state’s mental institutions. It was about how while their average base pay was app. 40k, the abuse of ot shot their average pay to 90k. Thus many were over the 100k mark!
If more money would actually ensure that children would be getting a better education, that would be one thing. But throwing money at a problem doesn’t necessarily fix it.
Beyond that, this tax increase is NOT guaranteed to go to education anyway. Read it.
I’m not going to take your word for it.
Post a link.
You talked about this months ago, and said that the number came from your own estimations, and refused to back it up.
The median salary is around $50k…. making your claim of 1 in 8 very implausible.
Post links.
1 in 8 is 12.5%
Of retirees, only 2.3% have $100k+ pensions.
That is a pretty big gap you have to account for, and I don’t think that you can. Even in the UC system, which has the highest number of people with advanced degrees and professions that earn $100k everywhere in the US, the number is less than 12.5%.
Those are some big gaps for you to account for, and I don’t think you can do it.
Told you the sources, and last time you helped prove my ultimate point of bloated govt. You came up with the 1.8 mill. # of state employees! When considering that doesn’t count county or city employees in our state with a population of 36 mill., did I say thank you for helping prove my point?
And 50k is median salary without overtime?! Again, you help me prove my point!
And 2.3% have pensions! of over 100k?! Thanks again!
You are claiming 12.5%. Big difference.
Post links to the sources.
You haven’t proven anything except that you throw around rubbish data and refuse to back it up.
All I am asking for is one solid source for one of your claims. Can you do that or are you just full of it?
Then we can talk about the other numbers.
Until then, you have officially been called out.
And I’ll just continue to make you look foolish, because I know you will never provide any sources to back up your first claim.
You also claim that California has too many state employees. When compared to all other states, California ranks 47th in state employees per capita (with 1 being highest number and 50 being lowest). Furthermore, in the whole country public employees are paid less than their private counterparts when group by education, tenure, experience, etc.
Wow. That is actually surprising to me on both accounts.
You couldn’t be any more wrong. I didn’t think I would be able to address your other points about state employees so quickly, and wasn’t even planning to until you attempted to back up your 1 in 8 claim. But I guess sometimes you get lucky.
And I am going to cite my sources, as any honest person who is concerned about facts should do.
http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2011/calfacts/calfacts_010511.aspx
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3410
I look forward to your sources.
Consider yourself served.
How tiresome, Fish. Nobody has to prove anything to you. We are free to have opinions on complete OR incomplete information in this country. Stop beating people into the ground because you want more. Go find it yourself. You’re so smart, I’m sure you could.
Selfishness has become a popular political philosophy. An earlier era valued schools, roads, police and fire protection. When we were children, adults stepped up and paid for them. Now it is our turn, but many people, particularly in this town, are Peter Pans who refuse grow up and assume adult responsibilities.
The constitutional amendment that was Proposition 98 guarantees that schools will get the bulk of the money raised by Proposition 30. Proposition 30 lets local districts decide how to spend the money, and it says that local districts “shall not use any of the funds … for salaries or benefits of administrators or any other administrative costs.” All decisions must be made at a public meetings, and school districts must publish a report online accounting for the money. That is from the state’s Legislative Analyst.
Local Proposition 30 opponents make arguments based upon state or national statistics. We know that statistics can be cited to support almost anything. Instead, let’s decide based upon what happens locally. I follow our local school board and I don’t believe they will squander the money. I believe that they will use it efficiently and effectively.
Do the right thing and vote Yes on Proposition 30.
Love how the left now calls healthy skepticism of government’s wasteful & excessive stealing of its citizens’ earnings “selfishness”.
Why is it selfish to want to keep a fair portion of what I earn, but it’s apparently not selfish for YOU to keep trying to take it from me?
Dogula, you don’t “Love how the left..” anything. You call everyone who disagrees with you “the left,” but you don’t make a coherent argument, instead you are merely sarcastic and cynical.
Perhaps Ad Hominem attacks make you feel good, but they aren’t convincing.
Taxes are not the same as theft. You are fortunate that the political philosophy you espouse was not popular when you attended school. Do you really believe that our local school board’s spending is “wasteful & excessive?”
Do the right thing – vote Yes on Proposition 30.
Thing fish, consider yourself delusional! California has one of the highest tax burdens in the US. That’s a fact!! So if we have relatively less employees, and spend below the average on education, then our state is then one of the most wasteful! And thus we need to economize! Thanks again!!
And another fact is, govt. employees make more than the average. Use whatever conditions you want, and that doesn’t even include benefits! But again, just using your data, if 2.3% currently get over 100k for retirement, so in another words those that worked back in the 60’s-80’s get that kind of pension, a greater amount in that time frame! earned over 100k! Unless you’re saying the state is as bad as our City and let ‘s people retire at 100% of their salary?
So those that have been hired since the 90’s, when salaries really shot up, and since we’re only talking base pay and not with overtime included, my 1 in 8 or 12.5% number could really be wrong! It’s probably more than that! Thanks again!
And that ranking of state employees doesn’t take into all the City/County employees providing duplicate in our large metro areas such as LA,SF, SD, SJ etc.
Still no links to support anything you say….
It isn’t that hard, why won’t you do it?
I’m the only one who has posted any real data, and you seem to enjoy taking that out of context and making big assumptions.
Post some links. Your 1 in 8 number is a lie.
Yay Rick!
And Earl, admitting to voter fraud? Smart move.
I don’t jump because some anonymous blogger has some delusion that it’s his job to try & make people. Especially when that blogger’s own generated data proves my arguments!
But here’s some other factual math that can’t be argued! The residents of the State of CA bare a high tax burden. And that’s not even when one takes into account what some local municipalities add on. Yet, the State has a large deficit. Thus, it’s clearly a high spending, not a low tax problem!
You are still dodging the question, making excuses. It doesn’t matter who I am. When you say something that isn’t inherently obvious, you need to be able to back it up. I posted sources. You haven’t.
Which is a problem because the real number might be (probably is) 1/4 of the value you claim it to be. Which would make any discussion pointless because we would be talking about a situation that doesn’t exist. Your reality is distorted by a factor of 4.
Post your sources.
Good information is the foundation of good discussions.
You can’t prove your statement.
I have spent about an hour looking for anything that mentions the proportion of $100k jobs, it isn’t out there.
Until you show me something I can only assume that you just made it up. And you have a history of spreading disinformation.
So Parker, do you believe we should scrap the public education system in favor of privatization? Should we expect professional, dedicated faculty and administration like we have here in LTUSD to join the race to the bottom on wages and benefits so we can keep taxes low on the “job creators”? What exactly is the end-game of this austerity for the many and enrichment of the few?
Dick Fox, the public school system is a shambles. The only thing keeping it alive is the unions.
Why, in so many places, do teachers and people with means prefer to put their children into private schools? They certainly wouldn’t do it if they truly believed that public schools have a more “professional, dedicated faculty and administration”.
Competition makes for better performance.
Dogula, Maybe you should check out the new facilities at the Middle School(finally~), cruise the So. Tahoe High campus and talk to some faculty and take a tour of LTCC and see what great resources and people we have there. A “shambles” is what we’ll have when we have schools brought to you by Halliburton and Blackwater Educ. Services Inc.
Mr. Fox,
I haven’t toured the old local schools since I attended them, and that was a looong time ago. From what I’ve heard things are looking pretty good.
So what do I have to gain by having the property taxes go up on my three places? I have no children so there’s no vested interest in that respect. How about the betterment of our community! Lets invest in our young people. Be they the little tykes at Bijou or the young adults at LTTC.
Better schools that are fully staffed, quality, well built class rooms, small class sizes to provide more indivdual attention, a wider array of programs and so much more.
One thing you hear when a young couple is looking to move here is,”How are the schools?”. If we can improve our schools we might actually get people moving into this community rather than leaving in droves,lets fill up some of these vacant homes around town.
Sound farfetched? Possibly, but If I’m willing to pay a few extra bucks for our school system to help our future generation, I hope you will to.
Vote YES on proposition 30.
Respectfully, Old Long Skiis
I don’t like being held hostage by a do this or else edict.
The issue for me isn’t better schools, we’re all for schools. The culprit is the state coffers that require more then ever to sustain it’s over bloated appetite that will use the kids to find another revenue stream.
That’s a fact jack.
Old Long Skiis, I think you’re agreeing with me. Maybe re-read my posts. Critical, maybe the lack of revenue streams is the Prop. 13 nightmare that precludes governance, compromise or any sort of reasonable consensus.
Yes Dick Fox, I am agreeing with you in my own somewhat convoluted way. I guess I could have expressed myself in a better way. But hey, what do I know? I’m a product of local education and as a kid I didn’t pay much attention in class. Too many other things on my mind at the time.
But yes I do believe we need to support our schools and as Critical55 pointed out, there is a bloated budget, and with that I agree as well. There’s got to be some sort of compromise on the prop. 30 issue. Still help the schools without gouging the taxpayer too badly.
Old Long Skiis
The insecurity of your arguments thing fish causes you to make personal attacks. You spread misinformation when you site a link that doesn’t show the whole picture-sites the % of state employees relative to population without taking into account City & County employees! There’s a million sites out there that can say a million things! I firmly stand by my 1 in 8 figure!! You state you think it’s inaccurate, so be it.
I’ll just use your figure of 2.3% of retirees are getting pensions of over 100k. That’s based on base salary. Not all are getting 100% of their salary, some are surviving on maybe a mere 90%, so more than 2.3% had a ‘base’ pay of over that.
Retirees, by their definition worked in the past, and in the past pay was lower! So even a higher % now would be getting a ‘base’ pay of over 100k. And many get, and also abuse, overtime! You don’t believe that adds up to 12.5%, at least. Fine. It still adds up to bloated govt!
And Dick Fox, the end game, to use environmentalist language, is sustainability! We need to right size our govt., so it doesn’t have to keep coming to the taxpayer for more money all the time. Because that can’t last! My position is actually a very pro-govt. position!!0
Yep. The High School LOOKS great. Can the kids read? Write? Compute? Think for themselves? Get a job?
Afford to pay the tax burden that we’re leaving them?
Actually Dog, yes they can. I have one child still at STHS and she loves it. Loves her teachers, her classes, is very involved and still almost all A’s! We have a great group of kids in this town. Of course, like any town, there are some that need extra help to stay on the right track.
I am very happy with our schools and the future looks bright!
Thing, if you want to see wasteful spending, ask a high school auto shop student and they will tell you they have 2 (two) teachers, Mr. Patterson and Mr. Martin with both names on their class schedule because Mr Patterson is only there 40% of the time and they cant have different substitute teachers 60% of the time it isn’t fair to the students. Mr. Patterson is spending all his time at the state capitol representing the teachers union association. Call the high school and type in one of the teachers last name. You will get both teachers on their voice mail for the auto shop class. So we are paying over 80k a year for Mr. Patterson and approx 55k a year for Mr. Martin. That is just one example of how the teachers union creates wasteful spending and there is nothing the administration can do about it. That’s why home schooled, charter school and private school kids are smarter and more successful. VOTE NO on 30 and 38 give the parents vouchers to choose how they want to educate their children with less tax money instead and shut down the teachers unions.
Dogula,
As a matter of fact most of the kids can not read or write in cursive only printing. They get a few weeks of it in elementary school is all. So most students can not read their grandparents letters and cards and do not know what they say.