Posted on 02/21/2005 9:07:09 PM PST by NormsRevenge
In fall 1988, an epic political battle was in full swing in California. It pitted teachers unions against a Republican governor in a vitriolic fight over a ballot initiative to commit a portion of state tax dollars to K-14 education.
Proponents pointed to overcrowded classrooms, dwindling course offerings and a lack of school counselors. Foes warned that the law would hamstring legislators and lead to inevitable tax increases. That November, by the narrowest of margins, Proposition 98 passed.
Over the next 16 years, the law by which voters dictated the minimum portion of state tax revenue that must be spent on schools has been changed just once by voters, to allow lawmakers more flexibility in tough fiscal times.
It has become one of the most sacred protections in the California Constitution, with politicians loath to publicly criticize or challenge it for fear of sounding anti-education.
Until now.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is seeking to make changes that educators say would dismantle Proposition 98, and a new movement is cropping up to change the law. Education advocates who sold the measure to voters years ago, meanwhile, are gearing up for another fight to keep the law alive.
Voters embraced Proposition 98 with a simple purpose, to ensure that the state's classrooms would receive a fair and steady share of tax proceeds after Proposition 13 shifted the education funding burden to the state.
--snip--
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
What a bunch of gutless bastards.
Prop 98 was pure insanity. It needs to die. Education is the single largest budget expense in CA..... $50 Billion+
I'm not going to take any of the per-pupil spending claims seriously until they tell me how much we're spending per legally-in-this-Country pupil.
(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")
Per LAO report.
Proposal. The Governor's proposal would eliminate the ability of the state to suspend Proposition 98. The proposal would also eliminate operation of Test 3 and maintenance factor. Thus, spending could not be reduced below the Test 2 level, regardless of the budgetary circumstances. The maintenance factor outstanding as of June 30, 2006 (along with other items discussed below) would be paid within 15 years. However, in contrast to existing law, the maintenance factor payments (currently estimated to total $3.9 billion at the end of 2005-06) would not raise future Proposition 98 minimum guarantees.
Impact on K-14 School Funding. The net impact of the proposal on K-14 schools would depend on a variety of circumstances. For example:
· If the state experiences above-average revenue growth over the next several years, the changes in the treatment of the existing maintenance factor would result in smaller increases in the minimum funding guarantee than would be the case under current law.
· If the state experiences below-average revenue growth, however, the Proposition 98 minimum guarantee would be higher than under current law, since the measure eliminates both suspension and Test 3.
This Prop 98 came the closest they ever came to overturning the effects of Prop 13, in spite of Prop 13!!!
See here for the pension savings myth.
If you paid a caterer $1000 to provide a dinner and he served hot dogs, would you say, "Gee, I should have given him more so he could have provided a better meal" or would you say "The SOB ripped me off"?
The dollars taken for education are stolen and diverted elsewhere by the bureaucrats LONG BEFORE they ever reach the schools....and all future tax increases "for the schools" will be likewise stolen. Why can't people see that?
Prop 98 passed by a very thin margin.. yet is considered worthy of the word, mandate..
It is a millstone around the necks of the current and future taxpayers of this state.
Unions and others that paved its way with lies to butter their own bread should be shutdown as nothing more than extortion rackets that they have become, all working in the name of the children.. Yeah Right.
Setting education spending at 40% of the state budget was limiting but not fatal.
Guaranteeing that education spending would increase each year was an act of fatal pandering.
Yes... Young'un... Back in the day... that was called "featherbedding," pure and simple!!!
Why... They're more avid about featherin their beds with "the chillrun," than Michael Jackson!!!
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