Renew the California Dream

Tax the corporations and fund the schools and public services.

The national economy is stagnant. As a consequence, 41 states have a budget crisis, including California. This crisis has already led to the recall of Gov. Gray Davis and the election of Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The next steps of this crisis are important to us all.

In order to bring the state budget into balance, Gov. Schwarzenegger proposes (among other things) $5.9 billion in spending reductions, $1.1 billion in funding shifts, and $ 2.9 billion in savings from redefining school funding limits. The governor's proposals would dramatically cut support for child care under CalWorks, and Reduce Medi-Cal provider rates by 10 percent cutting off more poor people from health care.

The governor proposes a limit on several health and social service programs, for General Fund savings of $60.5 million in 2004-05. Programs facing enrollment caps include the Healthy Families Program, Medi-Cal services for immigrants, and the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. Thus new people seeking these services will be denied. In order to balance the state budget, funds are also taken from essential county services including police, probation, health clinics, and in home support care for the disabled.

K-12 EDUCATION
The Governor’s reduces General Fund support for K-12 Proposition 98 School funding by 2.2 percent from 2003-04. The Schwarzenegger budget continues the failure of California to fund its schools. California 8th. grade students currently rank 32nd. out of the 50 states in national tests, while we rank about 30th. out of the 50 states in per pupil expenditures. California funds its schools at about the same level as those of Mississippi and Alabama. And, we get what we pay for. In the last twenty years California's public schools, particularly in low income areas, have gone from first in the nation to near the worst in the nation, primarily as a result of totally inadequate state funding.

HIGHER EDUCATION:
The Governor's budget proposes a net General Fund reduction of 239.7 million for the Cal.State University system. Under this plan the student undergraduate fees will increase 10% and graduate fees will climb 40 percent. Over the course of two years, undergraduate student fees will have increased 58% and graduate fees 110 percent. In addition, the Governor proposes elimination of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) which has been the primary program to recruit and prepare low income students. Similar dramatic fee increases are proposed for the University of California system.

The dramatic decline in the last decade of California's once-vaunted system of public higher education illustrates the extent of the problem and the shortcomings of the Republican anti tax approach The Master Plan for Higher Education hasn't officially been repealed, but its guarantee of universal higher education is effectively dead. California prosperity in the 70"s and 80"s was created by universal high quality education. The anti tax radicals received low cost public education for themselves, ( when Arnold's mentor Pete Wilson was a student at U.C. his tuition was $50 per semester) and now they want you to pay for a high cost system. Instead of preserving public education, the anti tax radicals are raising fees ( a tax on students) and restricting access for students from working class families.

A BETTER WORLD IS POSSIBLE :
You can't build a prosperous economy based on low wage - low education workers. It doesn't work. . Inadequate school funding, particularly in low income areas, remains a central problem in California. If children are not well educated both the economy and our democracy will suffer. Cutting health and welfare services of the working poor is unnecessary and shortsighted.
One would think that we could all agree that children ought to be able to attend public schools that are safe, where gangs and narcotics are not common, where roofs don't leak and plaster does not fall from the ceilings. We ought to be able to at least assure our students that the toilets work and fresh water is available. But, as the Williams V. California suite demonstrates, we cannot. (ACLU- 2000)
The Williams complaint says:
" Tens of Thousands of children attending public schools located throughout the State of California are being deprived of basic educational opportunities available to more privileged children attending the majority of the State's public schools. State law requires students to attend school. Yet all too many California school children must go to school without trained teachers, necessary educational supplies, classrooms, or seats in classrooms." Students attempt to learn in school that lack functioning heating or air conditioning systems, that lack sufficient numbers of functional toilets, and that infested with vermin, including rats, mice, and cockroaches. These appalling conditions in California public schools have persisted for years and have worsened over time."
Now, Arnold, and the other anti tax radicals will say that they do not want to cut the poor from health care, they want safe schools and prepared teachers, but we just can't afford these things right now. Well, we can't afford quality education under the present tax system, but all we could if we returned to the corporate tax rates of the 1970's. This is class war. The wealthy and the corporations have stolen the money from schools for the last thirty years while they shipped our jobs to China, India, and Sri Lanka. We must take our state back.
Join the protest campaign against the cuts to minority outreach programs. Please write a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Republican legislators supporting him. Say something like:

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,
I am writing to express my strong opposition your proposed budget cuts in higher education and in particular to the elimination of the Educational Opportunity Program at the CSU.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger March 31, 2004
The elimination of these grants and services to low income students will further divide our society into haves and have nots. We need to commit sufficient resources to sustain effective programs of outreach to under served communities.
Under your plan the student undergraduate fees will increase 10% and graduate fees will climb 40 percent. Over the course of two years, undergraduate student fees will have increased 58% and graduate fees 110 percent. Student fee increases are , in fact, a tax on students.
The dramatic decline in the last decade of California's once-valued system of public higher education illustrates the extent of the problem and the shortcomings of the anti tax approach . California prosperity in the 70"s and 80"s was created by universal high quality education. Now your proposals preserve this system only for the middle class while excluding the working poor. This is not the way to encourage growth in the economy.
Your proposed budget continues the failure of California to fund its k-12 schools. California 8th. grade students currently rank 32nd. out of the 50 states in national tests, while we rank about 30th. out of the 50 states in per pupil expenditures. California funds its schools at about the same level as those of Mississippi and Alabama. AS the Williams V .California suite reveals, we get what we pay for , particularly in low income communities.
We could afford decent schools, and we could afford to fund our university outreach programs if we returned to the corporate tax rates of the early 1970's. Your credibility is on the line governor. Are you going to fund the schools, or are you going to protect the rich from taxes?

Sincerely,


Send to,
Governor Schwarzenegger
Office of the Governor,
State Capitol.
Sacramento, Calif. 95814.