This story was reported for the San Diego News Network on April 22, 2010.
It’s down to the wire, almost. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to release his proposed budget for next fiscal year in the coming weeks and while lawmakers pitch ideas — students continue to show their angst toward them.
But wait, it’s an election year too, so lawmakers better decide wisely. Read on to find out what students are saying, if Californians should expect more taxes and whether state employees will see another pay cut.
Another rally: About 100 students from San Diego City College joined thousands of other protesters in Sacramento Wednesday demanding money be restored in the public education system and social services.
The rally — which began as a march 48 days ago in SoCal and which City professor Jim Miller blogged about for SDNN — attracted thousands of protesters and filled three city blocks, according to the City on a Hill Press, a UC Santa Cruz student newspaper.
Naomi Santa Cruz, a sociology student at City, attended the rally and past protests organized by San Diego’s college students. So what makes this rally different than others that have been held over the past several months?
Cruz said it was “collective” meaning that it drew those outside of the education world and included union members and those from low-income communities to protest social service cuts.
“Years back, California had the best schools and we were promised that education was going to be available to all Californians,” Cruz said. “That’s not happening now…not with the increased fees. We’re seeing the retention of people of color, especially women of color.”
Cruz, a full-time student with a full-time job, said she has seen her sister struggle as a single mother to muster up enough money for school tuition but with the budget cuts, it’s been a problem.
Cruz was joined by her peer Jose Rodriguez, a history major at City. Rodriguez said he’s been delayed in transferring by a semester because of new requirements implemented as a result of the budget cuts. Cruz said he works part-time to help pay the bills.
“Most of us come from the lower-class and we can’t afford to pay for school, but if we want to be successful, we have to go to school,” he said.
So what happens if lawmakers don’t pay attention to this protest?
“This is an election year,” Cruz said. “We will only support the politicians supporting us.”
Cruz’s response really just means “Boo-yah” in student language.
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No more taxes: Lawmakers said whatever the solutions for the $20 billion deficit may be — it won’t include any new taxes.
Greg Lucas breaks it down for readers in a California Independent Voter Network article:
“A key reason Democrats – who, generally, would rather increase revenue than cut state spending — aren’t pursuing a tax increase is it requires a two-thirds vote and that means “aye” votes from two GOP senators and six Republican Assembly members – votes Democrats don’t think they can win. ‘I don’t plan to put forward a general tax increase because I don’t think we’ll pass it,’ Senate president Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, told The Sacramento Bee in February.
Wooing a Republican to vote in favor of tax increases is far harder in an even-numbered election year. It’s not an attractive vote for Democrats in competitive districts, either.”
Lucas goes on to write that Californians were, pretty much, taxed enough last fiscal year.
“Another reason tax increases aren’t being sought is that the budget signed by Schwarzenegger in February 2009 contained nearly $19 billion in tax increases — $13.1 billion in the current fiscal year and an additional $5.8 billion for the fiscal year beginning July 1, according to Schwarzenegger’s Department of Finance.”
Another pay cut?: Last year’s 18 percent pay cut for lawmakers and statewide officeholders wasn’t enough, according to dozens of suggestions submitted to a panel that sets the salaries for California’s top elected officials.
“We must have received 100-plus e-mails, letters, everything, saying anywhere from, ‘You should hold the line’ to ‘Cut their pay’ to ‘Throw them all out,'” said Charles Murray, chairman of the California Citizens Compensation Commission, which meets Thursday in Burbank.
Proposals ranged from enacting another big pay cut to switching elected officials to merit pay to docking legislators’ salaries $1,000 for every $100,000 the state runs over its budget.
Murray, the president of a Los Angeles-area insurance company, said the seven-member commission is more likely to consider a total cut in the range of eight percent to 12 percent. That could include reducing a range of benefits in addition to salaries, such as daily expense allowances, vehicle allowances and health insurance.
The commission made a similar cut last year, figuring lawmakers should suffer the same fate as other state programs that were being reduced as California dealt with a massive budget deficit. It faces another shortfall through June 2011, this one projected at $20 billion.
Commissioners will consider their options Thursday but will not take final action. That is expected at their June meeting in Sacramento.
Associated Press writer Don Thompson contributed to this report. Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.