EdSource Today: Big win for schools as Prop 30 defies polls

By Kathryn Baron and John Fensterwald

California schools’ rendezvous with rock bottom is over.  A massive grassroots campaign, an eleventh hour surge in advertising and strategic targeting of likely voters pulled Proposition 30 over the halfway mark yesterday, giving both Gov. Jerry Brown and California public schools and community colleges a victory. With all of the vote reported, Prop 30 led 53.9 to 46.1 percent.  The initiative is expected to raise nearly $7 billion for education this year by raising income taxes on the wealthiest Californians and increasing the state sales tax by a quarter-cent for the next four years.

“I know some people had some doubts, had some questions – can you really go to people and ask them to raise their tax?” Brown told supporters celebrating at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento Tuesday night. “We had a lot of obstacles. We overcame them.”

via Big win for schools as Prop 30 defies polls – by Kathryn Baron and John Fensterwald.

EdSource Today: MapLight: Campaign spending to promote Props. 30 and 38 exceeds $100 million

By Louis Freedberg

Proponents of Propositions 30 and 38 have now poured a combined total of $117 million to convince voters to support their respective measures, both of which are intended to raise billions of dollars for schools and other programs.

Spending on behalf of Proposition 30, the tax initiative sponsored by Governor Jerry Brown that will raise an average of $6 billion for schools and other state programs, has jumped to $69.4 million, according to MapLight, a nonpartisan Berkeley-based research organization.  Meanwhile, spending on behalf of Prop. 38, the rival measure sponsored by civil rights attorney Molly Munger, who is also the heiress to the fortune of her father Charles T. Munger Sr., the billionaire vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, totals $47.8 million.

via MapLight: Campaign spending to promote Props. 30 and 38 exceeds $100 million – by Louis Freedberg.

SacBee — Education: Poll finds Jerry Brown has a chance to pass Proposition 30

By David Siders

Public support for Gov. Jerry Brown’s initiative to raise taxes remains below 50 percent, but the measure no longer appears to be on a downward trajectory, leaving Brown within striking distance one week before Election Day, according to a new Field Poll.

Likely voters favor the initiative 48 percent to 38 percent, with 14 percent undecided, according to the poll.

Voters surveyed late last week and early this week were marginally more likely to favor the initiative than those surveyed in previous days. Of voters who have already cast ballots, 54 percent voted for the initiative, the poll found.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/01/4953132/poll-finds-jerry-brown-has-a-chance.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

via Poll finds Jerry Brown has a chance to pass Proposition 30.

FSUSD’s Facebook Wall: The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District is holding its final informational meeting on budgets

The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District is holding its final informational meeting for the community regarding school budgets and financing. Information on the initiatives that will appear on the November 6 ballot will also be reviewed. The meeting is scheduled for October 30 at Crystal Middle School, 400 Whispering Bay Lane, Suisun City, at 6:00 p.m.

This information may also be found on our website at www.fsusd.org/Page/5962 .

via The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District is holding its final informational….

SacBee — Opinion – Peter Schrag: Proposition 30: Can’t California do better?

If you’re old enough and have a perverse turn of mind, you may recall the National Lampoon cover from 1973 with the picture of a gun pointed at the head of a dog and the caption “If You Don’t Buy This Magazine We’ll Kill This Dog.”

That’s not quite like the “trigger” budget provisions attached to Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30, but close enough. If you, the voters, don’t pass this tax increase, the schools and community colleges will automatically lose $5.4 billion and the universities another $500 million.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/26/4939777/proposition-30-cant-california.html#mi_rss=Opinion#storylink=cpy

via Peter Schrag: Proposition 30: Can’t California do better?.

Dan Walters: Jerry Brown’s tax boost is in trouble

The governor of California may not be toast – yet – but, one might say, he’s turning browner by the moment in the heat of a political campaign he hoped would be his legacy achievement.

Two new statewide polls confirm what political instincts – and Jerry Brown’s body language – were already telling us: His tax increase measure, Proposition 30, is fading fast with scarcely a week remaining until Election Day.

Proposition 30, a $6 billion per year boost in sales and income taxes that Brown said would resolve the state’s chronic fiscal problems, never was particularly popular with voters, whose disdain for Sacramento politics is palpable.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/26/4939856/dan-walters-jerry-browns-tax-boost.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: Jerry Brown’s tax boost is in trouble.

EdSource Today: School initiative’s bumpy road to the ballot box

By Louis Freedberg

The thicket of obstacles Governor Brown and his allies have run into in trying to convince voters to approve his initiative to raise funds for schools and the state budget underscores the extreme hazards of trying to convince California voters to raise taxes, even for a cause they’re predisposed to support.

A combination of an unexpected and bitter rivalry among pro-education forces that should have been allies, greater than expected and deeper-pocketed opposition to the Brown initiative, and voters still struggling to cope with the enduring economic downturn in a state that reflexively votes against tax increases have all conspired to make it impossible to predict victory on November 6.

Instead, school officials and other education advocates are filled with a sense of dread that neither Prop. 30 nor Prop. 38, the rival initiative sponsored by civil rights attorney Molly Munger, will get the simple majority they need on November 6, resulting in an automatic $5.4 billion in “trigger cuts” to schools and community colleges.

via School initiative’s bumpy road to the ballot box – by Louis Freedberg.

The Reporter Editorial: Prop. 38 is best for schools

When it comes to Proposition 30, the tax measure backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, The Reporter Editorial Board is as divided as California voters, who, according to a poll this week, are nearly evenly split for and against it.

But unlike the Public Policy Institute of California’s survey showing that most voters oppose Proposition 38, the Editorial Board is unanimous in its support for that initiative, which would raise income taxes across the board to support public schools and preschools.

During a discussion about the two measures, those opposed to Proposition 30 said it came down to a matter of trust.

via Editorial: Prop. 38 is best for schools.

The Educated Guess: Responses to EdSource infographic comparing Props. 30 and 38

After publishing our infographic that compares Prop. 30 and Prop. 38, we received the following responses from the campaigns and others knowledgeable about the propositions and the issues involved. Free free to add your own response to our infographic below.

via Responses to EdSource infographic comparing Props. 30 and 38 – by Brent Zupp.

SacBee: Jerry Brown pivots to link Proposition 30 to voters’ top issue — jobs

FRESNO – His tax initiative in trouble just two weeks before Election Day, Gov. Jerry Brown is re-tuning his campaign message, casting his initiative as a jobs measure in a bid to broaden its appeal.

The adjustment, made by Brown in a series of recent public appearances, reflects the urgency of a campaign that is seeking to untie itself from controversy about education spending and to blunt conservative attacks centered on the economy, the most significant issue to voters in this election year.

“I say Proposition 30 is about jobs, because it’s about kids and teachers, and they produce the brains and the skills that make the jobs of the future possible,” Brown told teachers in San Francisco on Saturday, before repeating the message at a Bay Area church the next day and in a campaign blitz Tuesday through Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/24/4933678/jerry-brown-pivots-to-link-proposition.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

via Jerry Brown pivots to link Proposition 30 to voters’ top issue — jobs.

Dan Walters: Is Jerry Brown worried about Proposition 30?

As Election Day – and Halloween – approach, Jerry Brown may be getting spooked that his tax increase, Proposition 30, won’t make it.

The California governor once exuded confidence that voters would endorse a sharp increase in income taxes on the wealthy and a token, quarter-cent boost in sales taxes that everyone would pay, portraying it as a way of shoring up support for schools, the single most popular way government spends money.

A cornerstone of that confidence was that he had neutralized potential opposition from business, leaving tax increase foes relatively poor, while raising tens of millions of dollars, mostly from unions, to drive home his message.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/23/4930753/dan-walters-is-jerry-brown-worried.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: Is Jerry Brown worried about Proposition 30?.

Vallejo Times-Herald Editorial: ‘Yes’ on Prop. 30, ‘no’ on Prop. 38: No easy answers

Rarely do ballot measures present as important or challenging a choice as Propositions 30 and 38 on the Nov.6 ballot. Both would levy taxes, and both promise help for public schools, which most Californians realize are crucial to the state’s economy.

In fact, California’s financial stability may be at stake in this election. The wrong tax directing money in the wrong way could speed the state’s decline.

We are reluctant to recommend raising any taxes during this plodding economic recovery. We are particularly hesitant to recommend a “yes” on such a proposition because we know that many of the financial wounds being suffered in California are self-inflicted, largely by elected officials who simply don’t know how to say no to any influential interest group, be they public employees, business, labor unions or environmental groups.

via Updated: October 21, 2012 7:24:07 AM PDT.

EdSource Today: EdSource offers infographic to clarify Props. 30/38 confusion

By Louis Freedberg

If you are confused about the differences between Propositions 30 and 38, the competing initiatives that will raise billions of dollars for California public schools, you are not alone.

The initiatives deal with what is arguably the most complex public policy issue in California today – how our public schools are financed.

To help reduce voter confusion, EdSource, founded 35 years ago to clarify complex education issues, has for the first time produced a visually appealing infographic – in this case to clarify for voters the main similarities and differences between the two initiatives.

via EdSource offers infographic to clarify Props. 30/38 confusion – by Louis Freedberg.

Dan Walters: Jerry Brown’s tax hike in jeopardy

As he began his second governorship last year, Jerry Brown warned that California faced a potential “war of all against all” if the state budget was not fairly balanced, or as the former Catholic seminarian put it in Latin, “bellum omnium contra omnes.”

Brown now has the war he didn’t want as Proposition 30, the tax increase ballot measure upon which he has staked his governorship, and perhaps his place in political history, is hammered from the left and the right by two very wealthy siblings, Charles and Molly Munger.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/14/4909934/dan-walters-jerry-browns-tax-hike.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: Jerry Brown’s tax hike in jeopardy.

Dan Morain: Brown struggles against Mungers

Gov. Jerry Brown must be feeling like he has left California and landed in the State of Munger.

It’s not a hospitable place. Mungerland is populated by Molly and Charles Munger, two of nine children of Charles Munger, the billionaire partner of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

The offspring have plenty of money, too, as Brown is finding as he tries to win passage of Proposition 30, the $6 billion-a-year tax increase on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/14/4907717/brown-struggles-against-mungers.html#mi_rss=California%20Forum#storylink=cpy

via Dan Morain: Brown struggles against Mungers.

SacBee Editorial: Munger’s attack on Jerry Brown’s initiative could kill both

No one should doubt that Los Angeles civil rights attorney Molly Munger is passionate about improving public schools in California.

She has proved that by putting her money where her beliefs are, spending $31 million to promote Proposition 38, her initiative to raise income taxes by $10 billion a year to fund schools.

That’s all within the bounds of the California initiative process, in which wealthy interests and philanthropists propose initiatives and try to convince voters of the wisdom of their concepts.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/11/4900716/mungers-attack-on-jerry-browns.html#mi_rss=Editorials#storylink=cpy

via Editorial: Munger’s attack on Jerry Brown’s initiative could kill both.

EdSource Today: Stop, or you’re getting a time out! A parent’s plea to Molly Munger and Jerry Brown

By Crystal Brown

As a parent, I’ve learned a few effective strategies over the years for those moments when chaos reigns in my house. 

Now, however, I would like to apply one of the old “effective parenting techniques” to the political circles of both Molly Munger and Gov. Jerry Brown: “TIME OUT!”

Please stop poking holes in each other’s efforts! Have you forgotten for whom you are advocating? Have you forgotten who loses if you both lose? Let me remind you: our kids! 

As the November election nears, I am absolutely appalled and heartbroken as I watch the teams behind Ms. Munger’s Proposition 38 and Gov. Brown’s Proposition 30 campaigns continue to take aim at each other in print  and on television.

via Stop, or you’re getting a time out! A parent’s plea to Molly Munger and Jerry Brown – by Crystal Brown.

The Reporter: Munger launches attack ad against Prop. 30

By Mike Rosenberg/ San Jose Mercury News

In a move that threatens to kill Gov. Jerry Brown’s pivotal tax-hike initiative, a wealthy California schools advocate backing an alternative measure launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign Tuesday attacking the governor’s proposition.

The TV spots bankrolled by civil rights attorney Molly Munger, the daughter of a billionaire hedge fund manager, represents the first significant opposition against Brown’s Proposition 30, which would raise taxes on the wealthy and hike sales taxes to stave off another round of cuts in K-12 schools and higher education.

The irony of the attack is that it doesn’t come from someone who is anti-tax. Instead, it comes from someone who just likes her tax better.

via Munger launches attack ad against Prop. 30.

California Progress Report: Prop 38: A Different Take on the Problem of Education Funding

By Sheila Kuehl

This is the second in a series of essays analyzing the Propositions appearing on California’s November ballot. This essay describes Proposition 38, which amends state statutes (not the Constitution) to increase state income tax for any Californian earning more than $7316 a year, and allocates the increased revenues to K-12 education, state debt and early childhood education. I’ll also address what happens if both the tax measures, Propositions 30 and 38, should pass.

via Prop 38: A Different Take on the Problem of Education Funding.