School Board Announces Support for Prop 30 and Prop 38

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The Board of Education for the Lynwood Unified School District has recently announced its endorsement of propositions 30 and 38, two state measures on the Nov. 6 ballot that would raise billions of dollars of needed revenue for California’s public schools.

Passage of Proposition 30, known as the “Schools and Local Public Safety Act” would help K-12 public school districts throughout the state stabilize budgets and avoid deeper cuts.

It would also raise an estimated $6 billion by increasing sales taxes a quarter of one cent for four years. The measure also proposes to increase taxes on individuals with annual earnings over $250,000.

Proposition 38, known as "Our Children, Our Future: Local School and Early Education Investment and Bond Debt Reduction Act,” would provide funding through grants for educational programs; programs that serve low-income students; and training, technology and teaching materials.

It would raise an estimated $10 billion annually during the initial years of a 12-year period through an increase on personal income tax.

The increase would range from 0.4 percent to 2.2 percent, depending on earnings and filing status.

“Failure of these measures would require us to consider the unthinkable,” said board President Alfonso Morales.

“To meet our legal obligation to operate this district on abalanced budget, we would have no choice but to look at last-resort options such as cutting15 to 20 instructional days from the current academic year.”

Prior to adoption of the resolution, Chief Business Official Peter Wong reported that failure of the measures would result in a midyear loss of $457 per student in state fundingfor Lynwood schools.

The total cost to Lynwood Unified would be $7 million, which thedistrict would have to immediately eliminate from its 2012-13 budget.

“I can almost assure that the overall quality of education will suffer,” Wong said.

Presently, Lynwood Unified receives $5,240 per student in state revenues.

That amount is 10 percent less per student than the district received from the state in 2007-08 and 20 percent less per student than the district would be receiving if California fully funded K-12 education.

California public schools have lost more than $20 billion in funding reductions and apportionment deferrals and have been forced to lay off more than 40,000 teachers since the state’s financial crisis in 2008.

As a result, California now ranks 47th out of the 50 states in per student spending.

In addition to these two propositions,

The District hopes to obtain about $93 million worth of bonds to fix deteriorating classrooms, roofs, bathrooms, electrical wiring as well as retrofitting rooms for earthquakes and other longlasting facility problems. 

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