  
If the state of California is going to have a viable future, we must reform the way government is run, and reverse the massive redistribution of wealth upwards that has taken place over the past thirty years. After years of budget cuts, California now ranks close to the bottom in almost any measure of how well we support public education and the other basic services of our state. We cannot afford to cut our state programs any more. That's why CFT initiated the Fight for California's Future, an open-ended campaign to educate the public about the real problems facing the state, and the only real solutions that will fix them.
This is also why CFT supported the various days of action over the past year, and launched, with other unions, the March for California's Future, as well as successfully sponsored Proposition 25 on the November 2010 ballot to restore democracy to the state budget process.
Two years ago the state budget was $102 billion. At that time California's per pupil spending had already fallen to 47th in the nation. This year's state budget is $87 billion. The public education portion of that budget, around 40%, has been severely reduced. Class sizes are soaring in K-12. Teachers have fewer and fewer supplies. Support staff are being laid off. School bus routes are being eliminated. And now the governor and legislature propose to reduce even more funding from the state budget for vital programs that serve people.
In higher education, thousands of classes have been cut in UC, CSU and the community colleges, at a time when the Great Recession has sent unemployment to 12.2% (the worst rate since 1940, at the end of the Great Depression) and economic refugees are seeking to take college courses to retool themselves. Students are unable to take classes they need to graduate. Part-time instructors have lost courses they taught for years, and as their teaching loads are being reduced, they are also losing their health benefits. The only "solution" offered by the UC Regents and CSU Trustees is to raise student tuition and fees, restricting access to higher education to those who need it most. The Legislature has just proposed raising community college fees by nearly 40%, driving away hundreds of thousands of students.
It's time to build a movement to change this picture. The Fight for California's Future is everyone's fight. We need to stand up for education—from early childhood through the universities. We need to defend public health clinics, fire stations, and the programs that help keep California alive.
When people say “we don’t have the money to provide adequate public services,” they are wrong. If California was a country, its economy would be the eighth richest in the world. The problem isn’t a lack of money. The problem is the wrong priorities.
There are two parts to this problem. We have a tax system that does not ask those who have the most wealth and resources to pay their fair share; and wealth has been massively redistributed in California and the nation over the past three decades—in the wrong direction. The top one percent of the economic pyramid own thirty four percent of the wealth. At the same time, the very richest people are paying less in taxes and keeping more money for themselves. Their luxury consumption and lower tax rates equal the neglect and decline of our public services. Until recently, the general population has not realized how skewed wealth distribution has become.
This arrangement is kept in place by undemocratic rules in the state constitution that allow anti-government, anti-public education forces to block the will of the majority of the people of the state and the majority of the Legislature as well.
The Fight for California's Future seeks to bring together everyone who wants to protect public education and services. We are working on direct actions and building political coalitions to change the undemocratic rules that block effective government, and working with other unions and community organizations to bring new revenues to the state so that we may fund education and necessary services properly, such as The Millionaires Tax. And we are working to educate the public about who and what the obstacles are to a better future for all Californians.
This won't change overnight. But with your help, it will change. Fight for California's Future!
|
