Californians Say Don't Cut Our Schools | California Progress Report

Californians Say Don't Cut Our Schools | California Progress Report

Californians Say Don't Cut Our Schools

by kaldveer

By Rupa Dev
New America Media
An overwhelming majority of Californians think not enough state funding is going to their public schools and that K-12 education is the area they most want to protect from spending cuts, according to a recent survey.
“Californians and Education,” an annual survey released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), found 62 percent of Californians polled who think their local schools aren’t receiving enough state funding. That’s a 10 percent increase from last year’s survey.

Even Arizona Voted For a Tax Increase

by christine

By Robert Cruickshank
Arizona - the same state that held an orgy of anti-Latino racism masquerading as a legislative session - should have made headlines last week for a different reason: voters there approved a sales tax increase to avert further crippling state budget cuts:
The 1-cent-per-dollar sales-tax increase that Arizona voters approved Tuesday affects everyone.
While even lawmakers who fought the tax increase expected Proposition 100 to pass, almost everyone was surprised at its hefty 64 percent approval rate. It passed in 14 of the 15 counties and drew healthy "yes" margins in some of the state's more conservative outposts, such as Yavapai and La Paz counties, according to unofficial results.
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Report: Banks Pulling Out of Prime Mortgage Lending in Communities of Color

by christine

By Kevin Stein
Among the justifications for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that injected capital into banks was the stabilizing of distressed financial institutions so that they could then turn around and lend to businesses and consumers starving for credit.
Well, TARP may have succeeded in stabilizing financial institutions, but this did not translate into more credit for Main Street.
Most Americans have a sense that lending by banks has dropped dramatically over the last couple of year, and that it is hard for homeowners, consumers and small businesses to get loans these days. But in fact, some communities are having a harder time than others.
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