Steve Schessler 
If you think back four years to 2012, you may remember the huge campaign around Proposition 30 – following our great success then, Prop 30 funds currently comprise 14% of our total revenue ($8.6 million).
We’re about to lose that revenue – unless we pass Proposition 55.
Proposition 55 – endorsed by CCFT Council, our Governing Board, and many other groups invested in education – would extend the temporary personal income tax increases from Prop 30, while letting the Prop 30 sales tax expire. It would provide a twelve year extension on earnings over $250,000 (single filers), $500,000 (joint filers), and $340,000 (heads of household).
The majority of the revenue from Prop 55 goes directly to education: 11% go to California Community Colleges, and 89% go to K-12, and allows for an increase in the state’s rainy day fund. There’s an additional allocation for healthcare programs in this proposition – up to $2 billion. The state’s estimate is that Prop 55 will bring in $5 billion to $11 billion initially (and then is dependent on the future economy).
FACCC notes that Prop 55 “provides critical funding to avoid cuts, increase courses, and maintain fee levels, and averts a potential $4 billion state budget shortfall.” CFT asserts, “Prop. 55 contains strict accountability requirements to ensure funds designated for education go to classrooms, not to bureaucracy or administrative costs.”
For further information, you can check out the webpage of the Secretary of State, FACCC’s “Learn the Facts” sheet, and CFT’s FAQ sheet. The proposition’s official title is the “Tax Extension to Fund Education and Healthcare. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.”
Have questions? Contact your wonderful COPE co-chairs: Sadie Reynolds (sareynol@cabrillo.edu), and me (stschess@cabrillo.edu)