Photo by Tim Foster/Capitol Weekly Political junkies lend us your ears: Capitol Weekly has always taken care of its readers, of course, but now we’re taking care of our listeners, too. We’ve started a weekly podcast.
School kids at work in a California classroom. (Photo: Monkey Business Images)OPINION: California voters passed Proposition 2 last November to establish a statewide “rainy day” fund. Unfortunately, a one-size-fits-all law, SB 858, also passed last year as part of the state budget process. SB 858 prevents school districts from saving adequately to prepare for their own rainy day by setting a maximum average “reserve cap” of 6 percent on school districts reserves.
The state Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: AMadScientist, via Wikimedia)FIELD POLL: Slightly more voters believe California is generally on the wrong track (46%) than say it is moving in the right direction (41%). In addition, more voters disapprove (47%) than approve (35%) of the job performance of the state legislature. Opinions about both matters are directly related to the party registration of voters. Democrats offer a much more optimistic assessment of the direction of the state and hold more positive views of the job the state legislature is doing than Republicans.
A California school sign alerting motorists to the presence of youngsters. (Photo: Eddie J. Rodriquez)OPINION: From the beginning, the Vergara v. State of California lawsuit has highlighted the wrong problems, proposed the wrong solutions, and followed the wrong process. This deeply flawed lawsuit was not about helping students, but yet another attempt by millionaires and corporate special interests to undermine the teaching profession and push their agenda on California public schools and students
More California voters are becoming critical of the job Barack Obama is doing as President. The latest Field Poll finds that while 51% of California voters approve of the President’s overall performance, a growing proportion (43%) disapprove. This represents an increase of 8 percentage points in the proportion disapproving since July. While the growth in the number of Californians disapproving spans most demographic subgroups, some of the greatest increases have occurred among voter segments who have been among the President’s strongest supporters.