State Student Issues
Next year, Prop 100, a temporary 1 cent sales tax ends, meaning that the state will need to once again cut $1 billion dollars from the universities and K-12 education resulting in even more drastic increases in tuition, more teacher lay offs, and even bigger class sizes. That’s why a grassroots initiative was formed to get a proposal on the ballot that will provide stable funding for K-12 and higher education, specifically scholarships for students so that we won’t be facing more cuts next year.
The Quality Education and Jobs Act (Prop. 204) will strengthen the state’s recovering economy and help schoolchildren and higher educations students statewide. The ballot measure, which asks voters to renew the one-cent sales tax in November, would do the following:
• Higher Education/Universities: Funds university merit and needs-based scholarships for university students, creates community college scholarships, invest in vocational and GED training, and funds university operations
• K-12: Protects school funding from legislative cuts, improve K-12 accountability by funding a system that gives immediate feedback about achievement to teachers and parents, and creates a K-12 performance-funding system
• Children: Restore KidsCare funding for children living under the poverty line and establishes a program to provide grants to reduce hunger, homelessness, family violence and child care
• Public Safety, Jobs & Transportation: Funds new road, rail and transport projects statewide to create jobs, aid commerce, improve safety and fund public safety officers