On election night, Proposition 30 was approved by California voters, passing with a 53.9 percent vote. The proposition will raise California’s sales tax by a quarter-cent for four years and increase personal income tax on annual earnings over $250,000 for seven years.
The temporary tax will generate an estimated additional $6 billion annually for education in the state, with 89 percent of the revenue going to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges.
Although none of the revenue will go to the University of California system directly, the passage of Prop 30 will suspend automatic trigger cuts that would have slashed $250 million from the UC budget, and will allow for an additional $125 million in potential funding.
At the last UC Regents meeting in September, UC administrators warned if Prop 30 was not passed by voters, the UCs would be faced with a 20.3 percent tuition increase if no other revenue could be found to mitigate the trigger cuts.
In a press release UC Regents chair Sherry Lansing praised students and faculty for their role in raising awareness of the proposition.
“I am deeply grateful to all who advocated for Proposition 30, especially the students who worked so incredibly hard to get out the vote, and the many faculty members and alumni who argued so eloquently for its passage,” Lansing said.
The next regents’ meetings is scheduled for Nov. 13–15, next week, where they will discuss UC budget and tuition. Although Prop 30 will prevent triggering the large tuition hike, it is still unknown if UC students will see smaller tuition increases in the 2012–13 year.
