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An Indecent Proposal

March 26, 2008 @ 04:03 pm by Trina Boice

Despite the colorful pictures hanging on the walls, there is a bleak feeling in the front office of my son's elementary school these days. Teachers and staff, including the principal, received the dreaded pink slip two weeks ago. There is a feeling of uncertainty and frustration in the air. Easy smiles and laughter have been replaced by worried looks, anger and criticism. Approximately 188 Carlsbad Unified School District employees recently received their termination notice for the 2008-2009 school year due to our California budget crisis.

Governor Schwarzenegger has asked that Proposition 98 be suspended in order to cut $4.8 billion in education funding. If passed, class-size reduction could be eliminated in first through third grades and in the freshman year in math and English. Other proposed cuts include music, science, social science, art, theater, second language, librarians, nurses, and even full-time principals.

Voters passed Proposition 98 in 1988, which was supposed to prevent our government from cutting education during economically weak times and provide a minimum protection for education funding. In 2004, however, the legislature passed a suspension of Prop 98 for the first time by a 2/3 vote. This is what they're proposing to do again this year to solve the state deficit of over $15 billion.

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Posted In: California | 1 Comment
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One Down, Two To Go

February 13, 2008 @ 09:02 am by Charles Hartley

California's role in the presidential primaries may be complete, and the surviving presidential candidates have moved on to fresher hunting grounds for voters as they attempt to secure their parties' nominations, but the 2008 election cycle is far from over: one down, two elections to go.

According to the California Secretary of State's Web site two initiatives have qualified for California's June election.

The two qualified initiatives, Propositions 98 and 99, would both amend California's constitution to change state and local government power to acquire property for private uses.  The issues are similar to those that would have been addressed by passage of Proposition 90 in 2006, an initiative that was defeated with 52.3 percent of the voters voting against amending the state constitution.

But government acquisition of private property, for whatever use, is in the news. The federal government is taking property to survey and build a border fence.  Downtown redevelopment is back in the limelight as San Diego and the Centre City Development Corportation, no strangers to using the power of eminent domain for private use, celebrate the restoration of the Balboa Theatre funded by downtown redevelopment tax dollars.  


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Posted In: Local, California, Propositions | 3 Comments
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