(January 24, 2008) The California Chamber of Commerce and a broad coalition of business, teachers, firefighters, labor, seniors, transportation and health care workers, yesterday urged Californians to vote No on Proposition 92 by launching the campaign’s statewide radio advertisement.

The 60-second radio ads express support for community colleges, but highlight the many problems with the in initiative. The ads will air from January 22 through February 4 in the Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego media markets and are recorded in English and Spanish.

Listen to the ads.

“The ads will communicate to California voters that while we all support community colleges, Proposition 92 is just not the way to go. Proposition 92 is a deeply flawed measure that will cause more problems than it claims to solves,” said CalChamber President Allan Zaremberg.

Proposition 92, The Community College Governance Funding Stabilization and Student Fees Reduction Act, amends the California Constitution to guarantee community college funding levels without adding any accountability structure. The measure would inflict an enormous amount of pressure on California’s already-stressed general fund and possibly require major cuts from other programs funded from the same pool of money.
 
The California Community Colleges are institutions of higher education that serve about 1.5 million students annually. The community college system is comprised of 109 campuses operated by 72 districts that are governed by local elected boards of trustees. The system offers academic, vocational and recreational programs at lower division levels for recent high school graduates and any other adults who can benefit from instruction. Community colleges also operate programs to promote economic development and provide adult education.

CalChamber President Allan Zaremberg

Proposition 92 in effect splits the existing Proposition 98 funding guarantee for K-14 schools into one guarantee for K-12 and a separate guarantee for community colleges. The potential increase in state spending on K-14 education is about $135 million in 2007-08, $275 million in 2008-09 and $470 million in 2009-10, with unknown impact annually thereafter. Essentially, the California community colleges would maintain the benefit of a minimum funding guarantee under Proposition 98 without assuming the risk, like other public institutions of higher education, of being a separately funded public entity.

To listen to the ads visit, www.noprop92.com.

Information on other ballot measures and the CalChamber's positions.