Consider the Alternative

As a resident of California and a former high school teacher, I know how important it is that voters pass Proposition 30, a temporary tax increase to fund education. Prop. 30 is the most balanced and widely supported measure for benefiting the most students to the greatest degree. California schools are in a desperate situation and this is a lifeline that will keep them afloat.

The problem, however, is that if it passes we will not see any sudden wave of reform or improvement in the state’s education system or our local classrooms (though in Santa Barbara, Measures A & B will help in that regard). Schools will continue doing their job as effectively as they can given the anemic budgets they must live within. But if Prop 30 were to fail, well, we would certainly notice the difference before this school year finishes, and into a very grim future.

Whatever your specific concerns about neighborhood schools, teachers, taxes, unions, immigration, etc., you really don’t want to see the cuts that would be in store. And if we don’t grab on to this minimal rescue effort, we will all pay the long-term price for the loss of California’s primary economic engine—the public schools, colleges, and universities.

You don’t want to go there!