The “Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act” was approved by California’s voters in 1988 as an amendment to the state’s constitution. It requires that a fixed amount of the state’s general fund go toward K-12 education and community colleges. The amount is fixed at 40 percent of the general fund. Proposition 98 is an outgrowth of Proposition 13, due to that proposition’s stymied effect on public school funding through sales and property taxes.

Opponents of the proposition feel that it has harmed schools by fixing state education spending, regardless of how much schools need or how robust the general fund. Proponents point to fixed tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, which prevent them from contributing to the general fund in a manner proportional to their revenues. From 1993 through 2008, the state legislature reduced general fund revenues by more than $100 billion. (Source: L.A. Times)