Editorial: Measure will hurt education

Of the eight ballot measures before California voters, Proposition 76 has the most potential to hurt education.

One of three propositions that aim to amend the California Constitution, Proposition 76 walks an odd tightrope of promoting fiscal conservatism while giving virtually unlimited power to the governor.

While the majority of Proposition 76 deals with spending and borrowing limitations, the measure does contain language that would give the governor the unilateral ability to cut state funding:

“If the Governor determines that total expenditures are expected to exceed the limit imposed… the Governor shall propose to the Legislature or implement to the extent practicable by executive order measures to reduce or eliminate the excess expenditures.”

The limit mentioned is also part of Proposition 76 and would be determined by adding the previous year’s total state expenditures with the average annual growth in general and special fund revenues for the three previous years.

Though Proposition 76 directs the governor to limit funds only where they exceed their limitations, so many programs in the state require so much more money every year, giving the governor an open field in which to cut funding. Healthcare, law enforcement and education at all levels would be fair game.

Also, one should note the language of the measure. Nowhere does it specify the governor must cut funding or where. What services have priority? How much would a program have to be over its limit before its funding is cut? These are questions that must be answered before a measure passes that gives such arbitrary power to a single person.

And of course there are many more such questions. So many more that only a legislature with a popular mandate could take on this task.

While the idea behind much of Proposition 76 is welcomed in a high-spending state, certain services shouldn’t be cut. In fact, many services simply can’t be, such as those mentioned above. Health?

Safety? Learning? Which of these takes the first hit is a difficult decision to make, but to students struggling to pay for tuition and books on top of rent, food, car insurance and now gas, all the while watching their loan debt increase, the answer is more obvious.

Education is something that cannot be ruled by fiscal conservatism, at any level.

Not only does each and every student depend on education for individual needs, but the state needs an increasingly educated citizenry to run an increasingly needy and complex California. To limit education spending at any level and for any length of time would cause untold damage.

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