Our View- March 4th protest calls for support of education

If you're at all a fan of politics, you quickly learn that a war of words is won or lost in picking what issues to debate.

We see this in the case of recent activity by the Republican Party, which has framed the upcoming November elections around our government's supposed growing power and increased spending. Contrast that with what Democrats would rather discuss — like the success of the stimulus package or their efforts to increase access to health insurance — and it becomes apparent how important it is to pick your battles.

This principle of engagement is why we support today's marches in support of California's education systems, which are being attacked with budget cuts.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told state legislatures in January that the state spends 11 percent of its budget on prisons and only 7.5 percent on higher education. The governor admitted that 30 years earlier the opposite was true — California gave 10 percent of its budget to higher education and only 3 percent to prisons.

What happened? A number of occurrences were beyond the state's control and some events Californians actually had a say over. We're talking about propositions that California voters have passed that have hurt education.

Take, for example, California's three strikes law and the case of Isaac Ramirez. After being convicted of past wrongdoings, Ramirez was sentenced to 25 years in prison, after committing his third strike in 1996. His crime was stealing a $200 VCR from Sears.
Luckily for Ramirez — not to mention the state's coffers — he was released in 2002 after intervention by a federal court.

We're not advocating that the state should release violent criminals or lessen its punishments for crimes such as murder, rape or robbery. What we are asking for is that the state reconsider how to deal with individuals like Ramirez.

In an article by NPR, Ramirez said the "word of God" changed him during his stay in prison. The power of literature is not unique to Ramirez. The cases of other prisoners, some convicted of violent crimes, attest to the universal benefit of reading.

Ramirez could be used as an example of what can happen when the state lacks funding for public education. Better schools usher less crime.

If Ramirez received an education from a well-funded, well-established California school, he may have not committed these crimes to begin with.

But why do California schools lack funding? We obviously can't blame this solely on overfunded prisons. This question takes us to another proposition worth questioning.

In 1978 California voters amended the state constitution via Proposition 13. The proposition, passed in early June of that year, limiting property to tax to 1 percent of the full cash value of the real estate and capped any increase of such tax to 2 percent. Some of the funding was used for education.

According to the New York Times, this slashed 50 percent of property tax revenue. Opponents of the proposition include none other than billionaire Warren Buffet, who during the 2003 California Recall Election suggested Proposition 13 be repealed. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger jokingly said that if Buffet mentioned Proposition 13 again he would make him "do 500 sit-ups." It seems like California's education system is the one doing the sit-ups.

Proposition 13 is ill advised in that in discriminates against new homeowners. California property values in the '70s were overwhelming lower than they are today. A house that may have cost $65,000 probably cost $650,000 now. Californians who bought their house at $65,000 not only paid less for their homes but they pay overwhelmingly less in property tax. The cap on property tax increase is killing our budget and in effect killing education.

We are willing to bet that should the state increase its educational funding then the education systems, as well as the prison systems, would improve.

As a result, students suffering in high school can turn their lives around with the power of knowledge — not prison guards. Reaching delinquent individuals in high school, community colleges and the university level is preferable to incarcerating such individuals, who may or may not turn to knowledge as a means of escape like Ramirez did.

If the education system was well funded, let's say Proposition 13 was repealed, then prisons would be less impacted. While we can't empirically prove that better schools and safer streets are related, one can deduce that a better-educated population is less apt to commit crime.

It is more affordable to educate someone than to imprison them. The California Legislative Analyst's Office estimated in 2007 that it costs more than $43,000 annually to incarcerate someone. That same year the CLAO estimated it would cost the state $7,837 to pay the tuition of one student attending a California State University. That means it's more than $35,000 cheaper to help someone attend the CSU rather than dumping them off at San Quentin.

We end this editorial by asking the state to be smart and to pick the right battle — education. It's a more affordable and humane way to make our state fiscally secure and safe.  

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