K-12 Tax & Spending Climate: “Endless Bureaucratic Cancer”
Riva-Melissa Tez
California’s education and public safety records are also abysmal. Despite devoting 50 percent of the state’s general fund to education, with the main share going to K-12, only 50 percent of students meet or exceed reading standards, consistently lagging behind the national average. Meanwhile, crime is spiraling out of control, with violent offenses surging 15.4 percent since 2019, homicides up 15.5 percent, and assaults 27.4 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget for 2025-2026 is $322 billion, surpassing even initial estimates. Many Californians missed our governor’s stealthy tax hike last year, increasing California’s top marginal income tax rate from 13.3 to 14.4 percent. This move, aimed at funding an expansion of paid family leave, is a thinly veiled attempt to plug the holes in California’s crumbling fiscal ship.
These are the long-standing trends, and any observer can’t be too surprised at the consequences of this wildfire. If a natural disaster had been handled competently, it would have been an outlier for the Californian government.
It’s time for Californians to shake off their complacency and demand a reckoning from those who are supposed to govern. For too long, we’ve tolerated a system that squanders our hard-earned wealth and is now destroying our property. The Romans built aqueducts stretching hundreds of miles in less time than it takes to permit an outbuilding in California — and their aqueducts actually held water. We deserve better — better stewardship of our finances and better management of our resources.