6:00am | In what was called “an emergency vote,” the Los Angeles County Democratic Party (LACDP) voted to support the School and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012 proposed by Governor Jerry Brown and the California Federation of Teachers, joining both Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.
This support follows the insistence by many educational leaders to inform the public about the importance of the tax initiative, in which sales and use tax rise by a quarter of a cent and the top two earning brackets — those earning over $250,000 per year — receive income tax increases of .5% and 1% over the next seven years respectively.
Earlier this week, Long Beach’s own educational powerhouse triad — LBUSD Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser, LBCC Superintendent-President Eloy Ortiz Oakley, and CSULB President F. King Alexander — discussed the results of a report on the city-wide “College Promise” initiative and how it might face danger if the proposed tax increase is not passed.
The California State University (CSU) recently released a statement urging the public to support the initiative due to a possible additional $200 million cut after having cut significant amounts already. However, controversy came around the statement’s release given that, during the same meeting of the Board, they gave two CSU presidents the max salary raise possible.
Chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party Eric Bauman stated, “This [initiative] is sensible and responsible – it will ask all Californians to pitch in to secure our common future.”