In California we are raising tuition on students and closing elementary, middle, and high schools!

[ej510]

College students are protesting. One of the reasons UC and CSU schools are doing this is because dumb ass California voters voted to recall Governor Gray Davis. Governor Gray Davis signed a registration tax into law; which would controlled the rising tuition and would've paid for state grants. Today some of these dumb ass voter's kids are suffering the consequences of their ignorance. If Obama and congress were to cut back the military budget we could pay for education. If we get out Afghanistan we could pay for it. More people should be outraged, but they're not because they do not care, know or they do not want to know. This comes down to the elite, sucking the life out of this nation.

[phleshdef]

1. I hate to say it but California's budget problems are California's own fault.

I'm not a supporter of the Governator by any means, but he hasn't even been able to get a budget change passed at all because the voters of California don't want any tax hikes yet at the same time they don't want to give up anything else that requires government funding. Repeal the real estate tax cap that was passed back in the 70s, for starters and allow the freakin' governor to at least try to get some budget changes passed. Face it, California has been having this problem for a very long time now and its not just because of the recession. The problems predate the recession, they predate the gross military spending and hell, they even predate Arnold.

[ej510]

5. If we could stop repukes from blocking tax hikes in Sacramento we

could lift the real estate tax.

[xxqqqzme]

14. The real estate tax cap - Prop 13

was an amendment to the state's Constitution. It can only be repealed by another initiative. Tax increases are required, again that pesky CA Constitution, to have a 2/3 vote by the legislature. Any increase has been blocked by the grover norquist pledge taking rethugs.

The 2/3 vote requirement has been a root problem for quite some time. Because of that, funding is delayed giving rise to initiatives requiring a percentage of some revenue to be spent on _______ (pick your interest). Now, we are at a point that an initiative is being promoted to amend the CA Constitution to repeal the 2/3 vote requirement. I would like to see the initiative process amended because it is being abused by out of state interests.

In the last THREE election cycles there has been a proposition requiring 'parental notification' if a minor seeks pregnancy termination; the doctor not reporting is treated as a criminal. Each time it has been defeated but here it is again two years later showing up on the ballot again in 2010. The fourth time since 2004. And there is an additional attempt this cycle, by the same nutjobs, to essentially, have fertilized eggs classified as persons!

[ej510]

15. I know the 2/3's law is insane. They are the reason we cannot pay for anything.

We need to tax Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

[stray cat]

2. For some reason American's never expect to pay for what they receive

and CA has been living beyond its means for years.

[atreides1]

3. Very True

The same people who bitch about taxes, are the same ones who get pissed when they hit a pothole in the road!

[slackmaster]

4. Yes, that is the problem

We have a legislature that pisses away every windfall and can't restrain itself from spending.

[ej510]

7. We have a special interests problem in Sacramento.

[joeglow3]

6. CA is one messed up state

I thank God I don't live there (financially speaking). The majority of public schools' funding comes from property taxes. With property taxes being capped so low, there is no way to properly fund them. Warren Buffet was right when he said the FIRST thing they need to do to address these issues is to address property taxes.

I HATE paying 1.8% inproperty taxes, but can only imagine what our schools would be like if the average property tax rate was 0.61%.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. Why has education become so expensive?

I just heard on CNN that tuition at UCs has doubled in the last ten years even after inflation is factored in. I went to UCI and UCLA many years ago (the 1970s) and it was a snap to pay for it with a part-time student job. And class sizes were not that big. And supposedly this is not a California phenomenon; it's happening all over the United States. What's going on? Why are students all over the United States getting saddled with ever more enormous student loans now?

[stray cat]

9. School endowments have been lost in the stocks and gov is giving less assistance

and people who work in universities also want a living wage and benefits just like other workers

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. I appreciate the answer

Somehow, though, I don't think that entirely covers it. When I was young and going to the UC in the early 1970s, professors were making a pretty decent amount of money, at least in my opinion. Several of them would hold graduate classes in their homes at night and they were living very well. At one time, I was making $400 a month as a T.A. and that was a lot of money to me, much more than enough to pay my tuition. And the stock market collapse and poor investments are recent, whereas tuition at the UCs has more than doubled in the last decade even with inflation factored in. Maybe you're right but something tells me there's another reason for these dramatic rises in tuition throughout the United States.

[freddie mertz]

20. The early 70s was a long time ago.

Houses in CA that cost $40 grand then cost a million or more now.

Professors' salaries, especially in the humanities, and especially for women, have not caught up with changes in the cost of housing.

Also,many young professors now carry massive debts in the form of loans from graduate school.

Add to that the fact that tax-supported state subsidies for higher education have declined or collapsed, and that universities are more expensive to run these days (IT for example, computers and tech classrooms, very expensive indeed)....

I'm sure that is not all of it. There are massively inflated administrations these days, and these suits make big money and get lots of perks.

But taken together, they do help account for the rise in cost.

[ej510]

10. Underfunding and cuts.

[ej510]

11. High cost of bodyguards for state officials

Costs at the California Highway Patrol's Protective Services Division have tripled up to more than $43 million last fiscal year. Much of that money goes to bodyguards for our celebrity governor. But now taxpayer advocates are questioning why five other state officials, with much lower profiles, are also getting the movie star treatment.

Read the rest and watch the video here: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=7103526

[slackmaster]

13. Not just Governator - I attended Assembly member Lori Saldaña's open house last year

She was accompanied by five CHP cars and nine or ten officers.

[ej510]

16. No one other than the Governor, Lt Governor or the Attorney general

should have an escort.

[slackmaster]

17. Lori was worried about protesters from the Minutemen

Only about six of them showed up compared to 9 or 10 CHP officers. They were very well behaved and stayed out on the sidewalk.

[ej510]

18. It's insane. they are wasting tax payer money on this bullshit.

We need that money going towards something else.

[Blue-Jay]

19. I wonder if Mr T could solve this problem.

He's B.A. Baracus!