Let’s face it. Financially speaking, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to be a college student.
Due to California’s budget cuts, Skyline’s tuition has already risen dramatically over the past few semesters. Now with the recent proposals from some of our state’s officials to amend Proposition 98, we might expect tuition rates to climb even more.
As mentioned in a recent issue of The San Mateo County Times, Proposition 98 states that approximately 40 percent of all general-fund tax revenues are guaranteed to the K-12 schools and community colleges. Certain California politicians, including Governor Schwarzeneggar, believe that alterations should be made in Proposition 98 so that money is taken from the area of education so it can instead be spent on other faltering areas, such as health care programs for the poor. There are others, however, who oppose the change, such as state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who, as reported, believes “…we need to invest in the future and invest in public education.”
While we believe that cheaper health care is important, The Skyline View also believes that education is one of the last things that should lose funding. While providing money towards funding health care programs may solve some immediate problems, it can only really be deemed as a “quick fix.” If we instead funded our education programs, we could, in the long run, allow more people to attend school and we could overall improve the quality of our education, and ultimately, society at large. Ideally, if we are teaching students in a higher-quality manner, they will grow up to find decent, well-paying careers that would allow them to afford health care. Also, if we had higher standards placed on education in this state, we would have better-equipped health professionals, thus improving health care on another level.
Voted on and passed by the people of California, Proposition 98 was once considered “sacred” and politicians generally practiced a very hands-off policy when dealing with it. Now, our governor plans to change that and is proposing a smaller spending increase of $2.9 billion-a steep drop down from the previous $5.2 billion. We’ve faced many cuts to our education budget before, which has forced us to close many public schools around the Bay Area, but now, politicians want to amend the constitution so they can cut our schools’ funds even lower.
The situation is complicated, and the solution isn’t obvious. But, California is notorious for its poor education programs. Let’s change that.