Proposition 30 debate (continued)

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“We don’t have the money to educate all [the state] ask[s] us to for what they give us,” Rosdahl said. “Eventually we go into the red, and then where does the money come from?”

If Pierce College is forced to rely on district reserves, the reserves would run out by next fall, according to Rosdahl.

Both McKeever and Rosdahl expressed more concern for the students than themselves, saying that students would feel the brunt of the class cuts and fee raises that would go into effect in the future.

“Students are already paying too much,” McKeever said. “They’re paying more for less classes.”

But not all professors are convinced that proposition 30 is the way to go to solve the budget issue.

Economics professor Dr. Pam Brown feels higher taxes will cause the state of Calif. to lose revenue.

“We [would] officially have the highest sales tax, highest income tax, highest gas tax, 10th highest property tax, and customers go where things are cheap,” Brown said. “When you raise tax rates, you lose tax base.”

But Brown does not believe spending cuts are necessary, but cutting down on expenses is a must.

The economics professor believes that the state can cut down on expenses by extending the retirement age for teachers, cutting down on pensions payments and opening more money up for education programs.

“Retiree costs for state employees, including teachers, is half a trillion dollars for the next 30 years,” Brown said. “That’s eating our operating expenses because people are living longer.”

Brown also feels a that the number of basic skills courses here at Pierce could be reduced to cut down on expenses to help out the budget, but only in tandem with improvement of K12 education.

“We could reduce [those] program[s] if we had better college preparation at the K-12 schools and we’d have more money freed up for our own programs,” Brown said. But another question arises with the proposition 30 question: would there be any possible troubles with accreditation?

This was not of immediate concern for Pierce, according to Rosdahl.

“[Pierce] already has a budget set for the year, so the outcome may not have a lot of effect on [accreditation] based on timing,” Rosdahl said. “When the accreditors come in March, we’ll be running on district reserves. But as for next fall...”

McKeever echoed a similar thought, but also brought up another accreditation concern.

“The state requires us to have a certain amount of faculty, and if we are forced to start cutting teachers, that could be a problem with accreditation,” McKeever said.

Brown felt accreditation might be an issue but was confident that “there are ways to accomplish our goals without spending cuts.”

With all the different views around campus about Proposition 30 and its potential repercussions, Pierce students should get ready to make a decision in the upcoming elections.

The initiative will be on the ballot in California in the Nov. 6, elections.