We were all children once, and if there’s one childhood experience in California we’d like to remember fondly, it’s going to Disneyland. After a day in that park, anyone would be justified in thinking that the people who put this place together truly care about all of us.

Sadly, we’ve learned more recently what the Disney Corporation really cares about: tax cuts. So much so, actually, that they’ve put in a million dollars to try and preserve tax giveaways that can be repealed by Proposition 24 in November. These tax breaks, if they aren’t repealed, are going to cost California $1.3 billion dollars annually, money that will be taken away from schools, social services and public safety. So you would think that Disney would have a very good reason to want to keep the tax cuts.

Unfortunately, when you look at the facts, it all just comes down to cash. Disney is not struggling to make ends meet- their net income in FY 2009 was $3.3 billion. They’ve found the money to pay their CEO well over $20 million in total compensation last year.

Maybe you’d argue that with a little more money, Disney will do good things that will in turn improve California’s economy. But that argument doesn’t hold water. Disney can’t seem to find $3 million that would drastically improve quality of life for its underpaid hotel workers in Anaheim. Disney has cuts thousands more jobs than it has created in recent years, according to one study. And just to make matters worse, Disney reported in July 2010 that it was sitting on nearly $3 billion dollars of cash equivalents.

That’s right. Nearly $3 billion. Double what Proposition 24 would restore to California’s budget, hundreds of times what’s needed to improve the lives of working Californians who call Disney their employer. Maybe Disney corporate executives are satisfied with their records and actions. But the rest of us can’t help feeling that Disneyland isn’t the happiest place on Earth, at least not anymore.

Start some real fireworks. Vote Yes on 24.

Learn more: www.paytheirfairshare.com

(Disclosure: I proudly work for Yes on 24)

I wrote earlier about some of the horrific cuts we’ve seen to public education in California. Passage of Proposition 24 could alleviate at least some of the pain by restoring $1.3 billion that’s set to be gift-wrapped to multistate corporations that aren’t creating California jobs. After I finished talking to the teachers who I featured in the linked post, I spoke with other community activists who are seeing lives affected by draconian budget cuts. Their stories should stay with us as we cast our ballots in this election, and inspire us to vote for the change we deserve.

Karla Salazar, who works for AFSCME, told me the saddest story I’ve heard so far. One of her union members is a woman named Pamela Garcia, who works as a rec assistant at state parks. She’s the mother of 2 children. During the budget crises, she’s had her hours cut time and again, and now she’s down to 5 a week. On 5 hours a week, she couldn’t come close to paying the rent, and she and her children don’t have a home.

In case you want things to get worse, Astrid Campos of the California Partnership has more bad news. California Partnership is a coalition of community-based organizations that fight poverty, and they lobby Sacramento to try and protect the safety net for families like the Garcias. Despite their best efforts, the safety net is being ripped to shreds. If Prop 24 fails, she told me, we’ll lose childcare for families that are transitioning out of Cal-Works, the state welfare program. The adults in these families must work at least 32 hours a week, but they make less than $25,000 a year. Ironically, these cuts won’t even save the state money in the long run, as most of the 80,000 families affected will be driven back to welfare.

One bright spot I see is that the effort to stop these cuts has united communities. For instance, the Reverend Lewis Logan is working to extend these efforts to faith-based communities. Rev. Logan told me that faith communities are fundamentally concerned with justice, and Prop 24 is in the cause of justice. He speaks articulately about the distorted politics that created the need for Prop 24, pointing out that taxes are an investment in the skilled labor that corporations need. Essentially, he says, we’re playing a shell game.

Karla Salazar, Astrid Campos and Rev. Lewis Logan were blindsided by the corporate tax giveaways handed out in the 2009 budget process. Organizations like theirs, and the Pamela Garcias they represent, didn’t even get a public hearing. Thanks to Proposition 24, they have that public hearing now. We should hear them loud and clear, and vote Yes on 24.

(Disclosure: I work for Yes on 24)

I had the opportunity to speak this morning with three California teachers about the budget cuts they’ve faced. We also discussed the high stakes of the November election and Proposition 24. All three of the teachers to whom I spoke, Mary Rose Ortego, Sergio Martinez and Tyrone Cabell, are working actively to try and restore the terrible budget cuts in our schools.

Mary Rose Ortega, who teaches third grade, summed up the state of affairs. “30,000 teachers have been laid off in the last 3 years”, she said. With the budget the way it is, she told me, we can expect thousands more pink slips soon.

The numbers became even more shocking when we discussed the effects on individual classrooms. I learned that class sizes have gone up to 40 in most elementary schools, and resources are incredibly scarce. Teachers are rationing paper, textbooks aren’t updated or replaced even when torn, and teacher’s aides have had their hours cut so students are getting even less one on one attention.

Sergio Martinez, who teaches fifth grade, highlighted the damage to the school infrastructure. “We’ve had nurses, counselors, librarians’ hours cut”, he explained. With the library being closed more hours each school day, kids can’t get to the books or the computers. If they don’t have those resources at home, they just aren’t getting them at all.

Of course, test standards haven’t changed one bit. Students and teachers are simply expected to do more with less, and only they will suffer the consequences.

Finally, Tyrone Cabell, who teaches special education, laid out the most chilling picture. Before the draconian cuts began, special ed classes in California were supposed to hold 8-10 students each. Now it’s 15. I asked him to describe how he does his job, and he simply told me “It’s impossible”.

Impossible. That is a word we should NEVER have to use in reference to educating our children. If California cannot give veteran teachers like Mary Rose Ortega, Sergio Martinez and Tyrone Cabell the resources to make their jobs possible, then California is failing our children. Meanwhile, in 2009 California handed a generous set of tax breaks to multistate corporations. If those corporations don’t pay their fair share, schools suffer. There’s just no way around it.

All three teachers stressed to me that passing Proposition 24 in November to end the corporate tax giveaways is a key first step in restoring the funding schools deserve. The corporations don’t want to give up their tax breaks, and they’re running a vigorous opposition campaign. Please stand with the teachers, not the corporations. Vote Yes on 24.

Disclosure: I proudly work for Yes on 24

Many political disputes are rooted in disagreements over how the economy works. Even for people who are civically engaged, the economic questions can become very difficult to navigate. Luckily, we have some world-class economists in the United States whose careful, reality-based analysis we can rely upon. Robert Reich is one of those people.

Reich’s biography is familiar to most, including his stint as Secretary of Labor in the 1990s. It should not be understated that his experience has made him one of America’s foremost experts in job creation. He has a deft understanding of the subject that easily surpasses the political pundits who will usually shout louder than he.

Now Robert Reich has spoken up regarding California’s Proposition 24 and his words should ring true. I encourage you to read and pass on the full press release with Reich’s comments, located below the fold.  

           For Immediate Release: 10/4/2010     Contact: Richard Stapler, (916) 443-7817

Former Secretary of Labor Reich Endorses Yes on Proposition 24, the Tax Fairness Act

          Says Breaks Don’t Create Jobs, “Regular Taxpayers Get Left Holding the Bag”

SACRAMENTO – Former Secretary of Labor and current U.C. Berkeley Professor Dr. Robert Reich has endorsed Yes on Proposition 24, the Tax Fairness Act:

“The Tax Fairness Act moves California in the right direction. It ends three extraordinarily bad corporate tax giveaways that will not save or create a single job.

As a former US Secretary of Labor, I can state emphatically that these narrow tax breaks for large corporations do not stimulate job creation, nor do they figure significantly in corporate decisions to locate in or relocate out of the state. Education, work force and other factors are much more important.

Rewarding a handful of large corporations – many of which are sitting on billions of dollars in cash – by giving away sorely needed funds absolutely does not create jobs. Claims otherwise are simply not credible. Passing Proposition 24 will level the playing field between regular taxpayers and corporations. Remember, the more corporate taxes get cut, the more likely regular taxpayers get left holding the bag. That’s not fair.”

Dr. Reich is currently a Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. From his biography: Robert B. Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He also served on President-Elect Obama’s transition advisory board. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, which has been translated into 22 languages; the best-sellers The Future of Success and Locked in the Cabinet; and his most recent book, Supercapitalism.

Proposition 24, the Tax Fairness Act, ends $1.3 billion in special tax loopholes for big corporations that don’t require the creation or protection of one single job in California. Proposition 24 will not raise taxes and prevents more budget cuts to schools, public safety and other important services.

For more information, see: http://yesprop24.org/.