Commentary:
By Giovanna Robledo

Up to 15 additional days permanently obliterated from the school calendar. Further cuts to music, dance, art, and physical education programs. Larger classes and fewer teachers.Tuition increase for all California public universities.
If Prop 30 doesn’t pass, this is what every Californian student has to look forward to.

Then, with the detrimental effects its failure would have on the future of California, why is it that Californians are still very much divided on the issue?

The answer is simple:their focus is askew.

See, informed voters seem to be aware of what Prop 30 will do if passed : increase sales tax by 0.25% for four years and increase income tax on households earning more than $250,000 a year.

“Prop. 30 will make life for Californians more difficult across the wealth spectrum,” writes Michelle Steel, Vice chairwomen of the California Board of Equalization, in a recent Orange County Register article.

Page after page, article after article, and citizen after citizen focus on what this proposition ultimately is: a tax increase. Half of the public, according to the latest USD/Los Angeles Time Poll, do not want another tax increase.

Big surprise.

These voters fail to acknowledge, however, the most important aspect of this proposition: what will happen if it doesn’t pass. If the people vote against it this November, a multi-billion dollar cut in state funding to education at all levels will be triggered automatically.

So the real question, then, becomes the following : Are we willing to let an institution so vital to the success of our nation deteriorate?

“Sacramento is playing an ugly game, holding almost 7 million students hostage with a budget deal that calls for $6 billion in immediate cuts to schools and colleges if the tax increase fails to pass,” wrote Sandy Banks in a recent LA Times article.

That’s right. As horrible as it may be, this is undeniably what is occurring. The state government needs money quickly. And they will obtain it. If not from us, then from our education facilities.

“When you’re growing up, you have to choose what’s valuable and what’s not, and you have to pay for what’s valuable,” said Miss Geraldine Gauch, in response to the proposition.

The people of California face a choice this November. They will either step up and remember the importance of education in the improvement of life, society, and America itself. Or they won’t.

Prop 30 isn’t perfect nor is it necessarily fair. I won’t pretend to understand why government money is spent the way it is. I won’t pretend to identify with those who have and will continue to see their income tax increase. I won’t pretend to comprehend our complex administration system.

But what I will do is assure you that education is too important to relegate. Too many of my peers have successfully graduated high school and are now enlightened college students preparing to better our society. Too many doctors, engineers, inventors, lawyers, business people, and teachers have enriched our society and paved the way for an even better future.

To vote no on proposition 30 is to vote no on improvement and a stable future.

If not for the children or our future as a nation, do it for me. Listen to the plea of this high school senior who has already experienced loss of school days, shortage of teachers, termination of her journalism class, and who fears what a further budget cut will do.

Please, vote yes on prop 30.

Ms Robledo is a student within the Chula Vista high school district.