With the state in an obscene amount of debt the result has been budget cuts to every service. Some have been hit harder than others, like the DMV, which seems to never be open. Many politicians tend to cut funding to education first, which has had its fair shares of blows.
Not all is lost though. With the elections over and done, a changing of the guard is underway. Luckily the citizens of California have elected Jerry Brown, who in his first term as California governor in 1974, was able to produce a surplus of $5 billion dollars.
With Brown in office, education specifically can finally see some improvements to its budget. When Prop. 13 passed in 1978, resulting in cuts to city and county revenue, Brown used much of the state’s surplus to aid cities, counties and schools.
Based on Brown’s platform during the election it does appear that he is willing to spend money on the education system, which many would agree is a good thing.
The most relevant change to the education system would be the creation of a new state master plan that would focus on community colleges and transfer credits.
This could increase the budgets of community colleges so that students can take the classes required to transfer or get an associates degree.
While Brown does want to place an emphasis on math and science, he also wants a more balanced and creative school curriculum. That means that art programs will not be the first to go, especially since Brown seems to be a fan of the arts. Back in the ’70s, he increased the California Arts Council’s budgets by 1300 percent, while appointing artists to the council.
We have already had a novice governor who “didn’t owe a thing to anyone,” then ended up owing the citizens of California everything, especially students.
Californians have now elected a man who has political experience (being married to a Kennedy does not count as political experience).
Most importantly, Brown has done some good for education in the past. Things will not magically get better over night, but it seems that there are steps being taken in the right direction.
