Well, it’s getting to be voting time, and we have a ballot measure that would directly affect students. Proposition 47, or “The Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2002” which would grant the CSU system $496 million dollars of the entire $13.05 billion dollar measure.

First of all, I remember when as a child I would say the word “million” and that was a whole lot. I only brought out “billion” when I needed to really scare or impress the bejeebers out of my friends. Now, the voting public must deal with “billion” rhetoric commonly, when it is near impossible to imagine what billion truly means.

Anyway, Californians are being asked to spend $13.05 billion on schools to fix up aging infrastructure, alleviate groaning temporary classrooms, modernize laboratories, and to research facilities and libraries.

This is awesome. Schools really need some help. Heck, in my History 177 class I have had to sit at a desk with a gimpy leg and no desk surface because there’s only 59 desks for 60 some-odd people.

I’ve seen poor little kids stuffed in classrooms with no computer access and having to hike out to the back forty just to get to social studies class.

The CSU system has grown by 22,000 students alone this year, and as we have seen by the early closing of admissions, school administrators have had to make some difficult decisions.

According to the CSUS Bulletin, Sac State has $20.6 million of projects just waiting for funding. This first $18 million will begin to fix our aging infrastructure. So, we won’t be seeing any new shiny stadium from this bond.

Of course, most of the $18 million that Sacramento State would get is slated for our sewer system. Yee-haw. We really do need some help there. This could alleviate the grease build up over in River Front Center. Maybe they will build some extra women’s bathrooms, because I’ll tell you, there is always a line.

When I started thinking about what the terms “bond measure” mean, I reflected back to all those savings bonds I cashed in that my grandfather had given to me. Basically, he bought bonds for a limited amount and had made a nice chunk on the interest, or in my case, I made out.

I wonder who is making out from this bond measure? Those who are wealthy enough to invest in Prop. 47 could make a total in $13 billion from interest. (That’s calculated for 30 years at 5.25 percent.) Apparently, municipal bonds sell in denominations of $5,000 each and are usually bought in groups of 1 million dollars.

This means that when a bond is advertised to be $13 billion, the eventual cost to California taxpayers is about double that. This stays as a hidden cost, because bonds are paid out of the General Fund. No new taxes are implemented when we sign a bond; but we feel the burden in sales, income and other taxes. Whoever invented the notion of credit, was brilliant and very greedy.

California is already $500 billion in debt. If we charged the state’s 34 million residents, each would pay $14,705 to eliminate the current debt.

It almost seems to me that we could save $13.15 billion of our taxpayer money if we generated the money differently.

If we decide upon Prop. 47, which is going to benefit our schools, we must weigh the costs. Prop. 47 will bring us to a debt of $526 billion. Instead of creating a new burden on average taxpayers, lets tax those who can afford it. We could just tax rich people and corporations more… instead of them gaining profits off of school improvements.