A statewide effort is underway in California to halt and reverse the declining funding for California’s public schools over the past five years. As a parent, I am supporting that effort, which is endorsed by the California State PTA. It is called the Our Children Our Future Initiative and should be on the ballot in November.
Two other initiatives are being considered -- Governor Brown's "Schools and Local Public Safety" one, and the "Millionaire's Tax". I argue that neither of those alternatives provides a solid footing for public schools, moving forward.
Follow me below the orange squiggles to learn more.
First, let me give some context. Five years ago California ranked 28th in the US in per-pupil spending. But after repeated cuts totaling over $18 billion dollars statewide, our ranking has fallen from 28th to 47th.
Second, I want to take a careful look at Governor Brown’s proposed solution. The governor has proposed an initiative for the November ballot that would increase sales and income taxes for the next 5 years to close the state deficit. However, even if the Governor’s initiative passes, education funding will stay flat for this coming fiscal year. The new tax revenue is enough to pay back deferrals and debts, but not to reverse cuts.
Also, the new tax revenue is not guaranteed to go to education funding, so the state legislature and the governor would continue to fight, year after year, about how to use that money. This is why I feel that the Governor’s initiative does not make a strong enough commitment to strengthening our public schools.
If the measure fails, the governor has stated that he will cut state funding for schools, for the sixth year in a row, by more than $4.8 billion dollars. No one wants that! (Except perhaps the tea partiers who believe that teachers should not be unionized, should be paid minimum wage for babysitting, and should not have retirement funds.)
That is why the California state PTA has endorsed (PDF) an initiative called “Our Children, Our Future”. This initiative creates a dedicated fund that can only be used to benefit public education, and focuses on investments designed to improve academic achievement.
Neither the state legislature nor the governor could divert these funds away from schools. Control over spending these funds would be local.
Over the first four years of Our Children, Our Future, sixty percent of the funds generated would add directly to the budgets of individual schools. School boards could only spend the funds after gathering input from each school community about the best way to invest in our children’s future.
The initiative limits the use of these funds for administration – only 1% can go for that purpose – and specifies that the funds cannot be used for increased salaries or benefits.
Our Children, Our Future is an effective starting point for addressing the challenges that California’s schools face. It ensures that each community would have local control over the use of funds, and it ensures accountability to taxpayers by requiring that school districts break down spending to the individual school level.
We are gathering signatures now to put this measure on the November ballot. I encourage all California voters to learn more at OurChildrenOurFuture2012.com.