Governor Brown's Tax Initiative

The State of California has been struggling with budget deficits for nearly a decade.  Every year, schools and other public services have been cut, hurting the most vulnerable Californians and leaving our children behind.  California now ranks at best 47th out of 50 states in per-pupil funding for education.

The only way out of this downward spiral is to provide more funding for the state's general fund.  An improving economy will help, although it will take many years to get all the revenue back.  In the meantime, it is imperative that California voters pass Governor Brown's temporary revenue initiative that will appear on the November ballot.  The measure would increase state revenue by as much as $9 billion per year through a small increase in the state sales tax (1/4 percent) and increases in income tax rates for incomes over $250,000.  The sales tax increase rates would expire in 4 years and the income tax provision would last 7 years.

At our April meeting, the Berryessa School Board unanimously approved a resolution in support of the initiative, officially called the "Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act."  This initiative is also endorsed by the California Teachers Association and all our local legislators.

A competing initiative promoted by Molly Munger and supported by PTA would raise more money for education, but would raise income taxes on all California taxpayers.  Polls show that this initiative faces very low support.  While the initiative might sound like a good deal for schools, the first priority should be stabilization of the state budget, which would only occur by approval of the Governor's initiative.  

The big problem with Munger's initiative is that voters are likely to be confused by multiple tax measures, leading to the failure of both.  If that happened, children would suffer and many school districts may even go bankrupt.  It isn't clear how the Berryessa School District will balance our budget going forward if faced with another $400 per student in cuts.

Yesterday's Los Angeles Times summed it up nicely: "It's conceivable that having two tax initiatives on the ballot will help persuade voters that Sacramento really does need more revenue after years of budget cuts, and a majority of them will rally behind one or the other. But it's far more likely that the dueling campaigns will split support for a tax increase, sending both to defeat and causing more deep cuts to the very schools Munger aims to protect. Brown's proposal is a better fit for the state's needs today."

It is very important that everyone who cares about public education in California get behind the Governor's initiative so we can present a unified message to the voters.  Let's stop the bleeding.  Then in future years we can and should find ways to increase schools' revenue streams.