Updated October. eleven, to correct mix-up of prop numbers in eighth paragraph.

It is what supporters of Proffer 30, Gov. Brown'southward education funding initiative, suspected and feared would happen. In a new thirty-second Boob tube advertisement that circulated today, the rival campaign of Proffer 38 takes pot shots at Prop xxx.

Prop. 38 funder Molly Munger  promised Sun that the entrada would release "compare and contrast" ads to tell the truth about false statements in Prop. thirty'south TV ads. With their first ad directly criticizing Prop. 30, Prop. 38 proponents accept signalled a potentially costly  escalation of a battle for voters' attention that has both sides sniping over alleged differences instead of emphasizing their common cause – raising more coin for schools.

The advertizing, with a schoolgirl's narration says, "Allow's see how ii election measures mensurate up. Prop. xxx says they send new money to our schools. But fact checkers say that's misleading. Prop. 30 sends money in here (imagine dollar bills flowing to schools) only lets the politicians have it out here (imagine dollar bills flowing to stick figures of politicians raising their arms). That'due south why Sacramento's behind it.

The fact checkers referred to in the ad are from the Sacramento Bee's Ad Watch on Oct. four (cited in a headline in the Munger ad). They don't dispute that Prop. xxx will heighten new money for schools: $3 billion annually for K-12 schools and community colleges – money that volition become the new base level spending required under Proposition 98.

The Bee'due south fact checkers were criticizing a specific statement by state Controller John Chiang in one of the  Prop. thirty ads: " Sacramento politicians can't touch the coin (emphasis added), and Prop. xxx requires annual audits posted online for anybody to run into." Chiang  is correct only in a very narrow, technical sense. Because Prop. 30 will raise money for the General Fund, legislators could  decide to spend some of the boosted  dollars required under Prop 98 for other purposes. It has happened before and could indeed happen if Prop. 38 passes and Prop. thirty fails. There are  only then many means to tie legislators' hands.

Prop. xxx was written to address to address a budget arrears that affects Yard-12 schools and other functions of state government, including police and prison house services that are now counties' responsibility. Although Prop thirty ads emphasize the money it will raise for schools  one-half of the $half dozen billion annual total – they take been pretty clear about what else  the initiative would exercise.

By paying off school construction bonds in its first four years, Prop. 38 frees upwardly $3 billion annually in the General Fund for the Legislature to utilize. Information technology does raise  heighten substantial money for Yard-12 schools and early on childhood programs – eventually every bit much as $10 billion per yr for viii of its 12 year-life. And so it's accurate for its ad to say, " Prop 38 really does send new pedagogy dollars straight to our schools." Merely Prop. 30 supporters say it is inaccurate and unfair for the advertising to imply that  "Sacramento politicians" favor th initiative  considering it makes it easy for them to siphon money intended for schools.

On Mon, before the latest Prop. 38 ad was circulated, Country Board of Education President Mike Kirst, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and leaders of the land'south largest unions wrote Molly Munger asking her non to run TV ads attacking Prop. 30. They wrote, "Nosotros empathise you lot prefer your competing measure. However, any actions to destroy Prop. 30 … fly in the face of stated goals to improve educational opportunities of our children."

Indeed, they had cause for worry.

The Advancement Project, a civil rights organisation that Munger and her married man fund, paid for the latest Prop. 38 ad – and non Aye On 38, the campaign system that is backed past the California State PTA. Yesterday, California State PTA President Ballad Kocivar dedicated the organisation'southward back up of Prop. 38 in a three-folio open letter of the alphabet to California teachers, whose union, the California Teachers Association, is a primary backer of Prop. thirty. CTA President Dean Vogel was also i of the 10 signers of the blunt alphabetic character to Munger.

"We recognize at that place are differences of opinion well-nigh the ballot measures this November. We know Proposition xxx, not 38, is the initiative supported by the two major state teachers' associations, and we fully respect that," Kocivar wrote. "Because PTAs have always been committed to a collaborative relationship with our teachers, nosotros desire y'all to understand our reasons for supporting Proposition 38 as well."

"The idea is simple and straightforward: Generate significant additional acquirement to start to restore the programs and services that take been cut. Move California out of the basement in schoolhouse funding," she wrote.

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