We Need to Pay for Good Public Schools

A good education is a right, not a privilege. It's written into Article 9 of the California Constitution. The costs of fulfilling this right are high, but far worse are the social and economic costs of not providing a high-quality education for all of our children.

The collapse of our economy, courtesy Wall Street avarice, has affected every family, local business and school in the community. In 2007-2008, Castro Valley Unified received just over $5,800 per student annually from Sacramento. Today, that number is $5,227.

There are real-life consequences when society chooses not to pay for the education our children deserve. In Castro Valley, like elsewhere, classes have been cut. Summer school has been scaled back. Counseling services reduced. Teachers, counselors, custodians, secretaries, classroom aides and campus patrollers have been let go.

Right now, petitioners are gathering signatures to place the Schools and Local Safety Protection Act of 2012 on the November ballot. It would raise up to $9 billion in its first year by increasing income taxes on high-earners and raising the sales tax by a quarter-cent.

Over the past twenty years, the top 1 percent of California income earners has doubled its share of total state income from 12 percent to over 20 percent. At the same time, top tier tax rates (state and federal) are lower than they used to be. Twenty years ago the highest tax rate in California was 11 percent, today it is 10.3 percent. According to the California Federation of Teachers, the Bush-era federal tax cuts alone are worth a windfall of nine to fourteen billion dollars annually for California's top one percent.

Californians understand what's at stake and who ought to pay. The Schools and Local Safety Protection Act of 2012 is polling at a 63 percent approval rate. That's far ahead of the simple majority required to pass.

Although the economy is slowly improving and a sizeable revenue initiative is headed to victory at the ballot box, our local School Board is posed to make a round of steep "anticipatory" cuts to schools next year.

What does that even mean? It means raising K-3 class sizes and reducing staff on hand to serve students and families throughout the district. Even though an actual budget reduction from Sacramento hasn't happened.

We're just "anticipating" that cuts will occur if voters don't pass a tax initiative in November.

For a district that began the current school year with $17 million in reserves — the second-highest amount as a percentage of the budget of any district in Alameda County — it's disturbing to make cuts when we have enough money in the bank to cover any further state budget cuts for one one more year, however unlikely those cuts may be.