Fiscal Showdown & Reduced Federal Spending on Education? We Say Kids, Not Cuts
My home state is California, and we just successfully survived our own state version of the “fiscal cliff” when it comes to education. Here, they were called the “trigger cuts.” If Proposition 30 — essentially part of the June 30, 2012 budget passed by the legislature that needed the people’s thumbs up at the ballot box — hadn’t gotten that thumb’s up, K-14 education would’ve seen $6 billion in “trigger cuts” starting in January, 2013. In our state alone.
It was a nailbiter. I advised everyone to hedge their bets with a Yes on 30-38-39 vote (as did State Superintendent of Instruction Tom Torlakson on Election Day). Luckily, a combination of voters who are parents, union members, public school supporters, and alumni as well as current college students came together to affirm Proposition 30, and even voted Yes on 39 to close a corporate loophole and put an additional $500 million in the general fund that pays for public education. We realized as a state that we cannot cut our way to excellence.
No, cuts to K-12 ever since Proposition 13 passed in 1978 have slowly whittled the Golden State down to 46th, 47th, and yes, even 50th in certain important measures of public school quality. And we’re among the 37 states that are still experiencing the lingering effects of the Great Recession. Our state budget, like the nation’s, still
It was a nailbiter. I advised everyone to hedge their bets with a Yes on 30-38-39 vote (as did State Superintendent of Instruction Tom Torlakson on Election Day). Luckily, a combination of voters who are parents, union members, public school supporters, and alumni as well as current college students came together to affirm Proposition 30, and even voted Yes on 39 to close a corporate loophole and put an additional $500 million in the general fund that pays for public education. We realized as a state that we cannot cut our way to excellence.
No, cuts to K-12 ever since Proposition 13 passed in 1978 have slowly whittled the Golden State down to 46th, 47th, and yes, even 50th in certain important measures of public school quality. And we’re among the 37 states that are still experiencing the lingering effects of the Great Recession. Our state budget, like the nation’s, still