Arguments Against Suspending Prop. 98

I write to urge you to oppose the suspension of Proposition 98.

In enacting Proposition 98 in 1988, and in confirming and modifying that measure with Proposition 111 in 1990, the people of California have said loudly and clearly, again and again, that they do not want the state budget balanced by taking money away from schools and students.

Revenue shortfalls will take between $500 million and $800 million away from education in the current school year. Suspending Proposition 98 would cause schools to lose even more next year. It would drop education’s share of the budget from about 42% to just 37.5%.

That would reduce school funding by about $2.4 billion or more. It would mean more dropouts, fewer teachers, larger classes, outdated textbooks, and inadequate supplies. It would require eliminating valuable school programs and laying off librarians, counselors, nurses, teachers and many other school employees that work with our children and youth.

With California already trailing the nation by hundreds of dollars in per-pupil expenditures--and trailing other leading industrial states by as much as $4,000 per student--we cannot afford to strip our schools further of the resources they need to educate our children and youth. Proposition 98 was designed to end the practice of balancing the state budget on the backs of school kids. That purpose is as valid today as it was when the voters enacted Proposition 98.

Please: Call or write your state legislators today and ask them to oppose the suspension of Proposition 98.

DAN HARDEN

Bonita Unified Teachers Assn.

San Dimas