Parent activist says lasting changes must come from ‘the bottom up’
By KidoA funny thing happened on the way to education reform: No one really talked to the parents.
That’s why this May 11, as the anniversary of Brown v. Board approaches, I’m going to Sacramento to speak to my elected officials, the people who are supposed to represent me and my children.
I’m going as part of the Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN) and the Campaign for Quality Education (CQE). And in a role reversal, we’re going to give California grades on its public school system over the last decade. The theme for our visit is “M.I.A.: California Ditching Schools from 2000 – 2010” and as expected the grades in Funding, Graduation Rates, and College and Career Readiness are failing.
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Mythbusting: High Taxes Don't Drive People Out of CA
By Robert CruickshankOne of the oldest and most persistent right-wing myths is that higher taxes lead to job losses and flight of wealthy taxpayers to other states. But as the California Budget Project explains, it's a myth without truth:
In the early 1990s, when 10 percent and 11 percent personal income tax rates were in place for married taxpayers with taxable incomes of $200,000 or more who filed joint tax returns and single taxpayers with taxable incomes of $100,000 or more, the number of taxpayers subject to those rates increased substantially, even while the total number of taxpayers declined. The number of California's married taxpayers with incomes of at least $200,000 rose by 33.4 percent between 1991 and 1995, and the number of single personal income tax filers with incomes of at least $100,000 increased by 40.2 percent....
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