With the election on Tuesday just around the corner, many students have been urged to vote on their futures. One of the main propositions that directly affects students is Proposition 30.
Fresno State has hosted at least two separate debates on whether Proposition 30 deserves the votes of students.
One of these events featured Fresno State College Republicans chairman Daniel Harrison and Fresno State Democrats president Sean Kiernan in an informal debate in the Free Speech Area.
“The side that isn’t getting told is that Prop. 30 doesn’t benefit education,” Harrison said during an interview with The Collegian. “The budget was created under the assumption that the proposition would pass. It’s governor Brown playing a political system to guilt people into voting for a tax increase.”
The second event hosted on campus was a formal debate between two teams consisting of two graduate students each. All the students participating in the debate were from the communications department at Fresno State. These students did not choose their sides based on their personal feelings, but simply chose a side to debate.
Graduate students Christian D. Angelich and Stephanie Hartzell debated in the Free Speech Area. Angelich argued against the proposition and Hartzell argued in favor of it.
What is Prop. 30?
According to voterguide.sos.ca.gov, voting yes on Proposition 30 will increase the state sales tax by a quarter of a penny for four years. It will also place a higher income tax on those households that make $250,000 a year or more for seven years.
From the revenue made from the proposition, 25 percent will go into an education protection account. Of this 25 percent, 89 percent will go towards funding levels K through 12 while 11 percent will go towards community colleges, both Hartzell and Angelich said.
The remaining 75 percent will go into the general state budget fund.
The other half of the legislation refers to the 2011 Realignment Legislation. According to lao.ca.gov, “… the realignment plan provides $6.3 billion to local governments (primarily counties) to fund various criminal justice, mental health, and social services programs in 2011—12, and ongoing funds for these programs annually thereafter.”
Proposition 30 will make the 2011 Realignment Legislation as well as the temporary tax increases part of the California constitution.
Arguments for Prop. 30
Hartzell argued that of the money raised, 25 percent is guaranteed to education, which is reason enough to consider the proposition.
“Absolutely guaranteed is that 25 percent of the money raised by Prop. 30 will go into a special education protection account,” Hartzell said. “So that’s going to education regardless of what happens with the money in the general fund.”
An argument for voting for Proposition 30, and the strongest argument for students Hartzell said, is preventing the trigger cuts from taking effect in the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems.
If the proposition fails, the CSU and UC systems would lose $250 million from their funding, which would take place following the election. Fresno State will lose approximately $13.3 million from its budget, said Fresno State President John D. Welty.
If Proposition 30 passes, and the CSU system dropped the $498 tuition increase, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a budget trailer stating the CSU system would be given an additional $125 million towards the 2013-2014 school year, Welty said.
Students would receive a refund of $250, Hartzell said.
“To me the strongest point of Prop. 30 is absolutely that it’s going to prevent the trigger cuts to public education,” Hartzell said. “Prop. 30 is the only proposition on the ballot that guarantees that if this passes, these trigger cuts are not going to go into effect and tuition and fees are not going to go up in January.”
Another major strength is the funding for the realignment. There is strong evidence to suggest that realignment is effective for solving major economic and budgetary issues, Hartzell said.
According to Hartzell, realignment has been successful in the past with mental health services. Hartzell believes that if the people of California support local governments with revenue from Proposition 30, other issues can be addressed.
Hartzell pointed out that the proposition, if passed, would only tax the income of the wealthiest citizens of California.
“According to data released by the census bureau, the wealthiest 1 to 3 percent in California, which would be who would be affected by Prop. 30, have not seen a significant decrease in their income in the past few decades,” Hartzell said. “People who are making less than $70,000 a year, which is actually 80 percent of Californians”” they’re the ones that have been severely affected by the recent recession.”
Hartzell argued that the proposition is a smart way to generate revenue by asking the 1 to 3 percent of Californians to contribute to temporarily fix some of the issues bearing on California.
Hartzell said that Proposition 30 is a temporary fix, not a permanent one.
“Nobody is saying that we’re going to increase taxes on anybody in the long term, but this is a quick and temporary solution to a big problem. With the hopes that using this temporary solution as a jumping point, we can then work to make more long-term solutions viable,” Hartzell said.
Hartzell also argued that the sales tax increase that would affect all Californians for four years was very modest to the average consumer in California. The tax would equate to an extra penny for a burger at In-n-Out, an extra 15 cents on a $60 textbook and $75 more on a $30,000 purchase, Hartzell said.
In a calendar year, the average consumer would spend an extra $50, Hartzell said. She also pointed out that the sales tax just decreased a year and a half ago, which was at 8.25 percent. The increase with Prop. 30 would put the sales tax at 7.5 percent.
In response to the argument that money from Proposition 30 would go towards teachers’ pensions, Hartzell said it is very speculative. She said that while it is possible that money could go towards teachers’ pensions, the real argument is whether that is necessarily a bad thing.
“These are the benefits that our teachers are promised throughout their careers and when they reach that stage of retirement, we want them to be able to have a decent life for all the service that they’ve given us throughout their working lives,” Hartzell said.
Hartzell said she doesn’t think a significant portion of the revenue would go to teachers’ pensions if that does become the case. There are ongoing reforms going on with the pension system, Hartzell said.
Opposition to Prop. 30
Angelich argued against Proposition 30. He pointed out that though the 25 percent of the money raised will not go to administrative costs, teacher pensions that are part of the CALSTRS (California State Teachers’ Retirement System) could potentially eat up the money raised by Proposition 30.
“Some argue that the money won’t go to classrooms at all, but that the state teacher pension is so far behind that those funds will backfill that pension,” Angelich said.
Even if all the money raised went to the fill teachers’ pensions, it would not put a significant dent in the state teachers’ pension system. It’s in this argument that the money from Prop. 30 would not go to classrooms or raise any new money for schools.
The argument is also that if it doesn’t go to the teacher pensions, it will just keep things around the status quo and will not solve California’s problems.
The sales tax increase is for four years and the personal income tax increase is for seven years. The education protection account is supposed to last for 21 years, but after seven years the funds disappear, Angelich said.
“This was the other point we made. How do you get money for permanent spending requirements from temporary tax measures?” Angelich said.
The argument he posed was that these temporary taxes have the potential to become permanent. With the increasing spending for programs, these programs will have higher budgets every year based on a tax that will only last seven years and an increased need for the money will be created.
“What we actually need is fundamental reform and this measure acts to mask the problems with our financial system in the state,” Angelich said.
The problem, Angelich said, is with the money system, which does not address the issues with accumulating interest.
The current dollar will begin to lose value, Angelich said, and issues like inflation are not being taken into account.
“Unless you start making an extra 5.5 percent next year to cover what you spent, you’re going to be in the hole.”
An example, Angelich said, are the teachers’ pensions. The debts begin to accumulate and then become so large that they become unmanageable. Debts then become too difficult to deal with, Angelich said, and the state assembly would rather raise taxes instead of dealing with the issue.
“There needs to be a national conversation regarding these issues, but that conversation is not happening on the political scene,” Angelich said. “There’s too much interest in maintaining the status quo. There’s too much money made off of the status quo. I think we’re going to continue to see these problems until the system breaks.
Proposition 30 is being pushed as an education act, Angelich said, when only 25 percent of the money raised goes to education. Most of the money and half the text is about the 2011 Realignment Act.
Another point Angelich made was that Gov. Brown has already budgeted the money raised by Proposition 30 into the state budget, anticipating the proposition would pass.
“To me, it’s a very risky, unethical way to legislate and to budget for special services,” Angelich said.
“There is a state wide crisis in our budget and right now the most injured are public safety and education,” Hartzell said. “The state needs to address those first by generating more revenue temporarily so those systems can continue to work”” so the students and community will not be suffering as a result.”
Voting will take place on Tuesday. Students and faculty can search their polling place at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/find-polling-place.htm.
