Opinion: Brown’s scheme to fund schools is sketchy at best
By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee
The campaign to establish a state lottery nearly 30 years ago adopted “schools win too” as its theme. And it worked.
Voters responded because education is the single most popular category of public spending, even though in reality, the lottery provides schools with little or nothing in extra money.
This year, Gov. Jerry Brown is using the same theme to sell voters on raising sales and income taxes. The opening words of his measure’s official ballot title are “Temporary taxes to fund education …”
Whether schools would actually benefit from the taxes is very uncertain; he has, however, signed a bill that would slash school spending by $5.5 billion should it fail.
It’s a very risky strategy for a measure that, at the moment, has no better than a 50-50 chance of passage.
For one thing, a recent Field Poll found that voters don’t like school funds being on the chopping block. They could conclude that Brown is holding schools hostage and resent the implied extortion.
I just hope these taxes being levied would actually make it into the classroom instead of some tenured administrator’s nephew’s new no show salary and benefits.
Anyone who approves a budget based on a voter approval of taxes is an incompetent leader. The money to fund the schools must be maintained and when the voters disapprove the tax increase, the cuts must come from other areas.
The California education and socialist indoctrination scheme has helped create so many of California’s problems.
Things would have been on a much better course in California if the voucher initiative had won back in the 90’s.
Instead we have massively over paid and under performing educators and they continue to make things worse in the state, not better.
The real question is just how poorly educated will California get before people realize how over paid their government school employees are?
“socialist indoctrination scheme”
Biz,
REALLY? WOW!
Recent Headlines: “Billions to be Spent on High Speed Rail,” “State Park Slush Fund Discovered Amid Park Closures,” “1,000 Legislative Aids Receive Large Pay Increase,” “State Park Executives Receive Huge Payouts Amid Layoffs,” “University Chancelors Receive Large Pay Increases While Student Fees Increase Above Inflation Rate.” Future Headline: ” Governor Moonbeams Tax Hike Initiative Goes Down in Flames.”
I do not understand how the education system in CA is respected.
The state is ranked very low against other state in the USA and the USA itself is ranked low against other countries.
Yet so many people think that the education system is doing well…
Are we a nation of liberal fools? Is that what has happening to America?
The decline continues and yet no one seems to care.
Does America deserve the collapse?
Or can new leaders step in to turn us from our course of ignorance while there is still time?
“The decline continues and yet no one seems to care.”
Don’t worry the decline will only effect us 99%ers. The 1%ers will be just fine. Conservatives will TRY to see to that!
Poor education and sheepleness is easy to identify, they use short, shallow one liners to demonstrate how little they know.
We are the 99 percenter.
Where is the WMD?…
are two examples to look for to identify poorly educated sheeple.
Biz is hurting,
Poor education and closed mindedness in people is easy to identify, they use the term sheeple to demonstrate how little they know.