La Times, Article Review Example

The article, “$1 billion in California budget cuts to kick in soon”, written by Anthony York and Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times describes the new state of California budget cuts on higher education and school-bus services that was planned to be effective on January 1, 2012. There are several issues that were indicated in this article. One issue raised many questions. Governor Jerry Brown stated that the budget cuts were approved in June 2011 and would take effect in January 2012 if revenue did not reach its optimistic level. What is the optimistic level? What is the Governor doing to reach the optimistic level? Why is the Governor planning on cutting back from the school bus systems? Why did the other budget cut have to do with care for elderly in their homes? In addition, there were several problems that arose in the article. One problem led to several questions. The problems are the cuts that the California State Universities, Universities of California and community colleges in California are faced with. What do these schools have to do in order to not feel the effects of the budget cuts? What effect does this have on the current students at the school? What effect does this have on prospective students? What other options does California have in place of cutting higher education?

The most compelling problem that has been raised in this article is the cuts to the higher education system in California. California has a diverse background of cultures, races and poverty levels. The good thing about the California education system is that it offers a reasonable price for students to receive an education. In this case, the community colleges for instance, have to increase their price $10 per unit. For some students this is a huge and detrimental increase in their budget. As seen in the article, one student who attends a community college in California barely makes it to his next paycheck with $5 and works for the college in order to provide for himself while he is receiving an education. This is the problem for many students at all types of institutions in California. It doesn’t make sense for California to cut from higher education systems. For one, current students may have to drop out because they can no longer afford to pay for college. Prospective students may never be able to enter college because it is too expensive. Not only are the students affected, the staff at the colleges are affected as well. In speaking with a librarian at this college, there have been many staff cuts that go along with budget cuts. The staff and teachers at the colleges are the ones helping the students achieve their education. This not only affects the students it also affects the economy and the number of jobs available for people with higher degrees. Therefore, there will be more individuals out of work and more individuals taking unemployment wages from the State.

The main concern or issue that is raised from this problem is, “What are the other options?” California has many different issues that are affecting the budget and different reasons that the state is not achieving its financial goal. The Governor needs to compile more information and look at the pros and cons of each cause and see what people would be affected the most. For instance, the Governor should look at the statistics for the amount of money from the budget that is supporting illegal immigrants. There are many other issues in California that are not being raised in this budget cut and should be presented to the public. Basically, the reasoning for choosing the education system in California is the question.

The solution to this problem would be to find other outlets for budget cuts within California. One solution, cut benefits to illegal immigrants, cut wages of the government and state employees, and possibly increases sales tax on certain items like cigarettes and alcohol. The best solution would be to increase sales tax on items like cigarettes and alcohol. These items are a choice for individuals and most individuals are aware of the health effects. Increasing the tax on these items could result in some unintended consequences such as increase revenue to the State of California, a decrease in the amount of individuals that smoke and drink, and a decrease in Driving Under the Influence (DUI) arrests. All in all, these solutions seem like a better choice than cutting the higher education system in California.