The State Budget... vs The Children of California

Catchy title huh? Actually this entry is about the battle royal over education funding in our fair (?) state. Plunging state income, way below even the most dire predictions, about $1.8 billion could wind up costing state schools as much as $8 billion in money that is owed them. What is brewing is a major fight over whether or not to suspend proposition 98, the constitutional guarantee to public schools that they will be funded. This is a battle that the Gov. and the California Teacher's Association (which by the way, was founded in 1863) had sought to avoid by asking voters to approve proposition 1B in the last election. What appears to be missing from this whole mess is what will happen to this state as a result of underfunding education. The effects of that could last for several generations and may never be able to be fully reversed. What am I referring to, you may ask? Well, lets think about this a bit. A student with a High School diploma is more likely to get and hold a job. That means they will be paying taxes, which will, in turn help the state, and that will, in turn help local communities. Now if we are lucky, that HS grad. is able to go to a community college or get into a 4 year university. This means that they will be able to make even more money and yep, be able to pay a little more in taxes. This is a very simplified look at what can be a complex thing. The bottom line is an educated population is a population that sustains a community, a state, a nation. Sacramento its time to get off your butt and fully fund the future of this great state and not get bogged down with your petty arguments over your pet pork projects.