Annotated Bibliography

Ballot Measure: Temporary Taxes to Fund Education.Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding. Education Fund. Web. 20 September 2012

Any tax-increase would be voted into law by the people, a promise made by California Governor Brown when he was campaigning for his election. Prop 30 is an agreement for a temporary tax-increase to fund money for Schools and Public Safety. A YES vote on this proposition means: The State of California would increase PIT(Personal Income Tax) on high-income tax payers for seven years and would increase the sales tax for 4 years. This measure if passed would also fund programs in the state budget, an increase of one-quarter cent on sales-tax, and a maximum of (9.3%) to (12.3%) on PIT. This is Governor Brown's plan to raise sales-tax and income taxes to address the state budget deficit.

Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Public Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Legislative Analyst's Office, 18 Jul. 2012. Web. 28 Sept. 2012.

The back-up plan to proposition 30 if declined by California voters, a cut in the state budget. To be more specific the triggered cuts would be to education programs, affecting the needs of public schools and potentially resulting in a longer deficit of cash. Future of this ballot if not passed will result in no tax increase, but major changes to state budget and the way we fund will take drastic cuts. NO, for this proposition results in no tax increase, with results of cuts of about $6 billion and the majority of the spending cut will come from public schools K-14 that are funded by the state.

Prop 30

http://defeat30.com/

http://cavotes.org/vote/election/2012/november/6/ballot-measure/temporary-taxes-fund-education-guaranteed-local-public-safety-funding

Readers Response

In Idiot Nation, Michael Moore, focuses on American Education. The author mentions many defects in the Education System, that a high percent of Americans cannot read beyond a fourth-grade level, that corporations like "Coke" have taken over American classrooms. Sponsoring the schools for funds but in return that these big corporations, worth millions of dollars, sell their product on school campuses. Sold to over a thousand teens nation wide and only a slight percent of the money raised, which is still a sufficient load of money, goes to the school for maintenance or other materials needed to keep school in session and running properly. Also, he refers to our nations leaders in the legislature who refuse to fund the schools, hold teachers accountable for students education. But they do not take into account that the material and literature being taught is out dated and does not flow with former issues being taught in up to date facilities that have the proper funding. The politicians according to Moore are illiterate themselves, he gives many examples of high ranking officials; for example he mentions how an ambassador failed to name the country's prime minister and capital in a Senate confirmation hearing, "Not a problem" he was admitted either way. I would imagine that our nations leaders would give more attention to education because our "kids are our future leaders of tomorrow",so they say when they step in front of a camera or in an interview regarding education. So I feel that it would make sense to them to give American classrooms the proper sources to properly inform, teach, the students that in the mere future will be taking over their positions, doing the same line of work there doing now.

Week One

The poem " Para Teresa" by Inez Hernandez-Avila was written in both Spanish and English because she was a Latina female in Texas around the time of the Alamo in 1947. Also, the name of her school, the " Alamo" at the time when she was in sixth grade gives a clue of why she wrote the poem in the two languages, and some has to do with the history of the Battle of the Alamo. Prior to the Battle of the Alamo, Texas was a territory of the southern country, Mexico. Latinos at the time where known to speak Spanish, but when the battle began, some Texans where left to decide between rebelling against the troops of Mexico or joining the Texans in there rebellion. Those descendants who where bred in the new America after the battle took place had to adapt to a different kind of system. Education being one of the many, like Hernandez-Avila attended class learning English, grammar and writing, but when the author and her classmates got home from a day at school, they would practice there native language Spanish. So when she wrote the poem a couple years later, her background reflected that Avila showed emotion from my point of view in writing in both languages showing her pride in her culture. Other reasons why I think she might have wrote the poem in two languages is in the name of the title " Para Teresa" meaning, for Teresa. Inez Hernandez-Avila describes Teresa to be "Pachuca" (Zoot-Suit), to have teased black hair with a hint of red, wearing red lipstick and petticoats in the poem. At the time Zoot-suiters where identified as Mexican-American in a different class between civilians and United States servicemen. Pachucos' where relatively known as juvenile gangs. Gangs from my perspective have a character when speaking. They speak in combination of both English and Spanish, Spanglish, which was why I also thought that Inez wrote it in both languages, she wanted to reach out to her culture and to appeal to a larger audience than that of her roots.