What To Do

Working in a public school district and being on the chopping block as funds are cut, I have found myself to know more about our state budget issues than I ever though I would. It's been a rollercoaster of awfulness for our school for a year. Almost all of our programs have been cut (thankfully, my GED program would be one of the last to go if it came down to that), countless teachers have been laid off, seen their hours cut, or lost benefits, and every day we learn that "it's only going to get worse."

It seems as if California is out of money and we have tens of billions of dollars to cut from the budget. The state gov't is banking on a set of propositions that will be voted on next week to increase revenue so that more cuts don't have to happen in schools. But it looks like these propositions are going to fail. And what it comes down to is that the people of California are not willing to pay more money to do the job that the legislaters failed to do.

And I don't know how to feel about this. And I am not sure how to vote.

If these propositions don't pass, we are looking at a 20% additional cut. That would be total of 40% cut. That's a lot. And people will lose their jobs and the quality of the education will suffer. There are crazy ideas going around here like cutting counselors and sports and even going to a four day school week! Whether those things would actually happen, I don't know . . . but the fact that it's even being talked about in the papers is cause for concern.

On the other hand, if they do pass, it's just feeding into the problem that is our California gov't. It's all politics here . . . .the unions have the Democrats in their back pocket and are opposed to any financial restraint while the Republicans have never seen a tax they liked. So instead of doing their job of figuring out how to be responsible with our money, the gov't is asking the taxpayers to make the decisions for them through these propositions. And people don't want to do that . . . and I am angry about it.

If I don't manage my finances appropriately, I fail. There are consequences. But when the state is irresponsible with money, the people whom they serve have to pick up the slack in many ways. I don't see how that's good for anyone.

California is a bigger machine than some small countries. We are in trouble, and that is scary. I don't know how I am going to vote on the propositions yet, but it doesn't look good.