Proposition 3 sustains California schools. Losing the high-income tax would be devastating

An income tax on California’s highest earners, first passed in 2012, will expire in five years unless voters make the levy for school funding permanent. Below, a cafeteria manager says students and families will be hit hardest if Proposition 3 fails. The opposing view: An anti-tax advocate argues California’s pattern of making temporary taxes permanent is bad policy, and voters can break the cycle.

Each day in my cafeteria, everyone comes through the same line and every student eats. 

For some, it’s the only meal they can truly rely on that day — and it comes embarrassment-free. Nobody has to check whether there’s money in an account, and nobody standing behind them knows the difference either way. That’s what universal free meals mean for the kids I serve.

I currently run a high school cafeteria, but I’ve worked in school nutrition with students of every age throughout my career. Their health and success is the job. For me, that means voting ‘yes’ on Proposition 3 this November.

In 2012, our students had endured years of catastrophic budget cuts caused by the recession and learned in classrooms packed tighter than they should ever be. California voters asked the wealthiest 2% to pay a little more to help our schools recover. 

It worked.

Four years later, in 2016, voters chose to keep those rates in place. Those tax rates are set to expire in 2031, potentially giving California’s wealthiest households a major tax cut that our students and schools can’t afford.

Prop. 3 doesn’t raise taxes on anyone. It simply stops millionaires and billionaires from getting a tax cut they don’t need, and sustains the current rates on the wealthiest 2% exactly where they have been for more than a decade.

California’s schools would face billions of dollars in cuts without this measure. Programs like free school lunches, for example, could be on the chopping block in some districts. Students could see larger class sizes, and their families’ healthcare could be affected since excess revenue goes toward Medi-Cal. 

Voters have every reason to wonder whether taxes paid by the wealthiest earners actually reach classrooms. Thankfully, Prop. 3 is written to guarantee that those dollars benefit our students. The measure includes strict audit and accountability requirements, guaranteed in the state constitution.

Every penny goes directly to local schools and community colleges. Politicians cannot touch it, redirect it or spend a dollar of it on bureaucracy or administrative overhead. Every dollar is independently audited every year, and any official who misuses it faces prosecution.

If Prop. 3 fails, the impact would also reach doctor’s offices. That’s because this revenue goes into the state’s general fund and counts toward California’s education funding guarantee. This means a core spending requirement of the state budget is largely covered, enabling billions in additional funding for healthcare, safety net programs and budget reserves.

Families could lose access to preventive care and to prescription drugs they today can afford, seniors could lose access to round-the-clock care they depend on, and the Medi-Cal coverage that millions of Californians rely on could be further strained — all on top of cuts already coming from Washington. 

I’m not a budget expert or a politician. I’ve worked in school nutrition with students from elementary to high school. When I hear “budget cuts,” I don’t think about dollars and cents. I think about my students going hungry, and how that hunger shows up on their report cards. Studies on school meal programs back up what I see with my own eyes: When my cafeteria has the resources to provide every student with a free, nutritious meal every day, they do better in class.

Prop. 3 does not ask Californians for a penny more. It essentially asks whether we should prioritize tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires or keep that funding in our schools.

Student health and success is my job. This November, it’s also on the ballot.