Category Archives: Ballot initiatives

Dan Walters: Gov. Jerry Brown channels Gray Davis on bill actions

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Jerry Brown turned a little gray in the last week – as in Gray Davis, the onetime Brown underling who later became governor himself until recalled by voters.

Davis was the most risk-averse California governor of recent history, a political bean counter who avoided controversy; carefully, but minimally, paid his obligations to supporters; and insisted on full payments from those who owed him.

Brown seemed to be channeling Davis as he signed and vetoed hundreds of bills that a liberal Legislature passed in the final days of the 2012 session.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/03/4876337/dan-walters-gov-jerry-brown-channels.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: Gov. Jerry Brown channels Gray Davis on bill actions.

The Educated Guess: Should California’s teachers vote with the governor?

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Jeff Camp

Nearly half a million of California’s voters are teachers. Like other voters, they will soon have to decide how to mark their November ballots. They will certainly scratch their heads over Propositions 30 and 38, competing measures that would ease the damage of four years of steady budget cuts.

Should teachers vote for Prop 38, which would bring significant new money to each school and provide funding for preschools? Or for should they vote for Prop 30, which would bring less money to education – but has the backing of the governor?

The California Teachers Association (CTA), the state’s largest teachers union, has committed to support the governor’s measure, and has officially taken a neutral position on Proposition 38. But as the CTA’s top leaders fan out to campaign this month in lieu of their usual quarterly meeting, one has to wonder if their hearts will be in it. When it comes to sustaining funding, either measure would do for the moment, and Prop 38 would establish a longer period of commitment.

via Should California’s teachers vote with the governor? – by Jeff Camp.

Dan Walters: California’s school funding confusing

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If you want your head to spin, try to figure out how much money we spend each year to educate California’s 6 million K-12 school students.

Official agencies and outside groups publish numbers, but they rarely agree. They either take their snapshots at different times or include different types of spending and/or different sources of financing.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget pegs the number at $63.4 billion during the 2012-13 fiscal year, but assumes that voters approve his sales and income tax increase measure, Proposition 30, on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/01/4869015/dan-walters-californias-school.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: California’s school funding confusing.

The Reporter Opinion: Yes on Prop. 30 opinion: Stop the decimation of California’s public schools

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By Moira McSweeney

 

To find a time of robust education funding levels in California, you have to look back pretty far — more than 40 years, in fact. Back then, California was one of the nation’s leaders in public education. We ranked among the top 10 states in per-pupil spending, and our students ranked in the top five among the states in achievement.Today, California sits near the bottom on all of these important measures. We rank 48th in per pupil spending and we are dead last in the ratio of teachers to students.

This didn’t happen overnight. Our students have been the victims of political gamesmanship and bad decisions that have made the state’s financial situation so dire. When the national recession first hit, we found ourselves facing an immediate budget deficit of more than $26 billion. Today, we find ourselves facing even deeper cuts in public education funding.

via Yes on Prop. 30 opinion: Stop the decimation of California’s ….

The Reporter Columnist: Ernest Kimme: Come on, moderates — Prop 30 and Prop 38

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Money, money, money: everywhere you look, money — and not a drop to spend.California spends about $96 billion every year, about $16 billion more than its revenues. The Legislature and the governor partially closed the gap with $8.2 billion in cuts.

But there is still a gap of about $6 billion, which the governor proposes to fill with additional revenue, or taxes as we call them.

To make it more interesting, there are two tax proposals on the ballot to fill this budget hole: Proposition 30 and Proposition 38. Proposition 30 is the governor’s tax increase. It is supported by Gov. Brown, the teachers unions, the California Sheriff’s Association and the League of Women Voters.

via Ernest Kimme: Come on, moderates — vote.

The Reporter: Solano County school districts favor Proposition 30

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By Richard Bammer/ RBammer@TheReporter.com

Area public school boards, like their counterparts statewide, have weighed in to support one or both state tax measures on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Vacaville Unified School District trustees recently unanimously voted to put their stamp of approval on Proposition 30, the so-called “governor’s initiative,” but stopped short of supporting the competing measure, Proposition 38, commonly called the “Munger initiative.” Their vote reflected the position adopted by the Vacaville Teachers Association.

In the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, trustees recently unanimously voted to endorse both, although the Fairfield-Suisun Unified Teachers Association supports only Prop. 30.

via Solano County school districts favor Proposition 30.

The Reporter Columnist: No on Prop. 30: Don’t reward legislators with more tax money

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By Earl Heal

 

This November, Sacramento politicians are asking voters to increase their taxes with a yes vote on Proposition 30. The politicians say that if you vote yes on these tax increases, it will help balance the budget, prevent further cuts to schools and fund local public safety. They threaten us with further cuts to education if we do not vote yes.But while threats of further cuts are being made, they are increasing their spending, preventing real reforms to the budget, pensions and spending, and not properly managing the money they currently have. Staff members have recently received a salary increase at an annual cost of $4.6 million.

Proposition 30 will increase taxes by $50 billion. The sales tax for all Californians will increase by more than $1 billion every year and will become the highest in the nation. Income tax for individuals and small businesses (3.8 million of them that file as individuals) will increase by up to 32 percent. In return, voters get no reform.

via No on Prop. 30: Don’t reward legislators with more tax money

Dan Walters: Jerry Brown, Molly Munger gearing up for battle

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Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger appear to be heading toward a direct clash over rival tax increase measures that could doom both.

Brown’s $6 billion per year sales and income tax increase, Proposition 30, barely tops 50 percent in recent polls of likely voters. Munger’s $10 billion income tax boost for schools, Proposition 38, falls short of a majority.

Brown attempted to persuade Munger to drop her measure, worried that having both on the ballot would alienate voters, but she refused. His campaign then publicly urged Munger to avoid attacks on Proposition 30, clearly fearing that they would threaten its passage.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/25/4851442/dan-walters-jerry-brown-molly.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: Jerry Brown, Molly Munger gearing up for battle.

Daily Republic » Opinion: Say no to state tax measures 30 and 38

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by Bud Stevenson

Have you decided how you’re going to vote on Propositions 30 and 38, which would put into effect tax increases, allegedly for education?

Proposition 30 is Gov. Jerry Brown’s pet tax project: it would raise taxes progressively on those earning more than $250,000. Proposition 38 is more “democratic,” since the tax increases would fall progressively on those earning as little as $7,317, with a tax of four-tenths of one percent.

Both propositions are devoted primarily to K-12 education, but one-third of Proposition 38’s revenue would be dedicated to paying down existing bond debt.

via Say no to state tax measures.

Dan Walters: If their taxes go up, will the wealthy go elsewhere?

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The centerpiece of Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax increase measure, Proposition 30, is a $5 billion a year boost in income taxes on about 150,000 high-income individuals and families – the 1 percenters who already pay 40 percent of California’s income taxes.

Their marginal income tax rate, now 9.3 percent, would increase by one, two or three percentage points for seven years.

For those with more than $1 million in taxable income, the top rate would hit 13.3 percent, including a 1 percent surcharge for mental health services imposed by voters in 2004. California would have – by a wide gap – the highest marginal income tax rate of any state.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/24/4847846/dan-walters-if-their-taxes-go.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: If their taxes go up, will the wealthy go elsewhere?.

Dan Walters: California school cut warning looks real

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When Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature fashioned the 2012-13 budget, their evident goal was to persuade voters to finance it by enacting new sales and incomes taxes at the Nov. 6 election.

Toward that end, they decreed that should the tax measure be rejected by voters, automatic triggers would cut spending by $6 billion, all but a fraction of it from education.

Ever since, Brown and other advocates have beseeched voters to pass Proposition 30 to save schools from those cutbacks, including a sharp reduction in the school year.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/21/4840477/dan-walters-california-school.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: California school cut warning looks real.

Dan Walters: Educators sullying state law to support Proposition 30

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Education Code Section 7054 prohibits K-12 and community college officials from spending public funds “for the purpose of urging the support or defeat of any ballot measure or candidate … .”

The state Supreme Court cited that law three years ago in ruling that it was illegal for a teachers union to use school district facilities to distribute political literature.

Throughout California, however, school officials are sullying the intent of the law by using official communications to plug passage of Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown’s sales and income tax increase.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/19/4832914/dan-walters-educators-sullying.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: Educators sullying state law to support Proposition 30.

The Reporter: Alcohol, props on Vacaville Unified School District trustees’ agenda

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By Richard Bammer/ RBammer@TheReporter.com

When Vacaville Unified leaders meet Thursday, they will vote to approve a revised policy and administrative regulation about alcohol being served at school-related and off-campus events.

The governing board, which has mulled the alcohol issue since early February, will consider drafts and alternatives to drafts of policies which disallow students from handling, serving or afterward clearing tables at school-connected events where alcoholic drinks are served to and consumed by adults, such as the Sylvan Singers’ annual Madrigal Dinner and the Wood High music boosters crab feed.

via Alcohol, props on Vacaville Unified School District trustees’ agenda.

SacBee: Jerry Brown and Molly Munger both want to raise taxes to help schools – – but differ on approach

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By Kevin Yamamura

If Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger agree on one thing, it’s that California needs to raise taxes to give schools more money.

Voters who share that view now have to consider two distinctly different paths devised to accomplish the goal.

On the November ballot, the tax hike with the most votes should prevail if both succeed, though courts would likely have to sort out which parts of each initiative survive.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/18/4829448/jerry-brown-and-molly-munger-both.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

via Jerry Brown and Molly Munger both want to raise taxes to help schools – – but differ on approach.

Dan Walters: The dark side of Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax plan

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Jerry Brown fancies himself a futurist, exhorting us to act now to ensure a better tomorrow – with a bullet train and a more dependable water system his prime examples.

Their merits notwithstanding, making decisions with long-term benefits is precisely what politicians should – but rarely – do.

One wonders, however, how Brown squares his self-appointed role as progressive pathfinder with his regressive and potentially disastrous approach to the state’s chronic gap between revenue and spending.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/16/4824170/dan-walters-the-dark-side-of-gov.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: The dark side of Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax plan.

Dixon Tribune’s Facebook Wall: Trustees plan for future budget cuts

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Dixon Tribune’s Facebook Wall
Brianna Boyd, Editor

At the direction of Solano County’s office of education, Dixon Unified’s board of trustees adopted a revised 2012-13 budget Thursday as well as a resolution identifying budget reductions for the district if Proposition 30 does not pass in November.

While the revised budget received a unanimous approval from the trustees present, wording in the resolution did not sit well with Trustee Joe DiPaola, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the matter. Trustee Herb Cross was absent.

via Trustees plan for future budget cuts

 

Dixon Tribune’s Facebook Wall: Teachers: District needs a structured plan to address budget

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Dixon Tribune’s Facebook Wall

Brianna Boyd, Editor

Dressed in matching black shirts, the members of the Dixon Teachers Association were a united front Thursday at Dixon Unified’s board of trustees meeting, pledging their support to the district and students but adamant that further discussions were needed before any concessions would be approved.

If California voters fail to pass Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 in November’s election, school districts across the state will be bracing for chilling ramifications, including Dixon Unified, which would face a $1.6 million mid-year cut. The district’s administrative team has already agreed to a voluntary 3 percent salary reduction and discussions have been ongoing over the last month with representatives from DTA and the classified union, SEIU.

via Teachers: District needs a structured plan to address budget

Brianna Boyd
Edito….

The Reporter: Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District trustees to debate tax measures — Props. 30, 38

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When they meet today, Fairfield-Suisun Unified leaders will consider approval of one or both of the two state tax measures on the November ballot.

So-called “the governor’s initiative,” Prop. 30 is the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012.

Proposition 38, proposed by Southern California lawyer Molly Munger and commonly called “the Munger initiative,” is Our Children, Our Future: Local Schools and Early Education Investment and Bond Debt Reduction Act.

If both pass, then the one with the greater number of votes will take effect.

via Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District trustees to debate tax ….

California Progress Report: School Beat: California’s Competing Tax Measures

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By Lisa Schiff

California voters concerned with the fate of our public schools face a dilemma this election day–how to vote on the two competing tax measures that each pledge to provide significant new financial support to our state’s public education system. Propositions 30 and 38 present very different alternatives to the immediate fiscal crisis in our schools and formulating an opinion on them is no easy matter.

via School Beat: California’s Competing Tax Measures.

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