Because of a Republican refusal to maintain recent tax increases, or even put them on the ballot, California state funding is falling in several areas that wealthier Republicans are going to have to make up for in their families and business expenses that will be even greater than if the burden had been shared by the public with new or extended taxes.
The University of California will have to raise its tuition not only the planned 8%, but an additional 10%, or an amount of about $1900 a year. To make the University still available to all economic classes, tuition is not charged to families making under $80,000 a year. Thus wealthier Republicans will be paying privately not only an increase for their children’s tuition, but also for the increased tuition of poorer students. Had this been shared to all by a tax extension, it would have cost them less.
The K-12 school year has already been cut by 5 days. Without a revenue increase, it may be cut up to another 7 days. This will affect Republicans in several ways. In order to go to college, their children will be falling behind a competitive national average. They may be forced to send their children to private schools at a quite larger expense than public schools. They may also have to provide more expensive tutoring for them. The reputation of California schools will also fall, and they may not be able to have their children qualify for the best colleges with the best financial and job outlook for their graduates.
Finally, Republican congressmen and state Assemblymen and Senators stress the importance of keeping companies and jobs in California. Talented employees will be looking askance at states with poor educational systems for their own children. Republicans represent the business interests of their states, and poor education does not make a good potential workforce for their businesses, or aid them in attracting employees on a national or international scale. It will cost them more in salaries to get talented employees since the employees may find it necessary to send their children to private schools.
In essence, starving the educational system of California is going to have to be made up for by private and business expenditures by those Republicans and business people who are at the top of the economic scale.
