Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future

A Conversation with author Peter Schrag
A Forum — March 5, 1999

For the past three decades, California has set trends in America’s economy and political life.  The state has been in the forefront of a direct democracy revolution characterized by voters’ direct participation in the decision-making process through ballot initiatives.  California has also led the country in the movement from political liberalism into a more conservative perspective, marked by spending limits, a "be tough" attitude, and rigid term limits for its politicians.  Many reforms initiated in California have echoed in the Congress, says Peter Schrag, a veteran journalist and editor for the Sacramento Bee.  Schrag has tracked the political and demographic transformation of California in the last 20 years and discusses his observations in the book Paradise Lost: California’ Experience, America’s Future?

During the 1960s, California’s strong economy was reflected in an array of excellent public services:  good roads, clean parks and superb schools, including a higher education system admired internationally.  In 1978, to halt the rise in property taxes, Californians approved Proposition 13.  This Proposition capped property taxes at one percent of the assessment value, which could be re-assessed only if the property was sold.  With little provision for the future, Proposition 13 made it difficult for local governments to address the needs of the state’s growing population.  It also removed the decision-making power and its accountability from local governments to the State Capitol.  Finally, it started a trend toward having major political decisions, from environmental protections to a minimum wage, be resolved through ballot measures.  These measures reduced the discretion of elected representatives, restricted budget decisions and limited the authority and discretion of both the state and local governments. In Schrag’s view, California moved from a community ethic, where everyone pays their fare share to support public services, to a market ethic, where only those who use the services should pay.

The impact of Proposition 13 has been felt acutely.  In the mid-1970s, California was 5th in expenditure per pupil, now it is the 37th or 38th.  Not surprisingly, Californian fourth graders tied for last place with Louisiana in the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAPE) reading tests. Ten percent of Californian teachers do not have credentials, and those who are more qualified move into better schools in wealthy districts, while the poor districts retain the least qualified personnel. On the other hand, while the public schools struggle to survive, Californian universities and community colleges thrive with the help of large investments from the Aerospace and Defense industries.

Proposition 48 required the state to put 40 percent of its revenues into K-12 schools, but most of that money was used to reduce class sizes in grades K-3.  Without the resource of property taxes, the local governments have relied on developers’ fees and other initiatives, mostly paid by those who are the potential beneficiaries of the schools.  The large elderly population in the state is sent from paying taxes that help schools, since they are not to profit from them. This system has brought sharp divisions among young and old, wealthy and poor communities, and has strained racial relations within the state, since 60 percent of the state school enrollment is made of minority students.

Schrag says the relationship between Proposition 13 and the educational and social crisis in California was not, at first, easily apparent.  First, schools’ low performances were associated with the use of whole language as the preferred reading method.  Then came other reforms that abolished social promotion and bilingual education, reduced class sizes, and proposed teacher peer reviews and high school exit exams.  To abolish Proposition 13, which is supported by at least 60 percent of the voters, would be political suicide, says Schrag. 

Recently, voters have approved the use of partial taxes and the selling of bonds to pay for school repairs, with few results. Another policy used by local governments to increase their revenues was to expand the sales tax base. Local government supported a proliferation of malls that have strained the condition of the roads, and increased traffic and pollution, without solving the school funding problem.  Gray Davis, recently elected, is the first Democratic governor in 16 years, and ran on an education platform that has promised school reform in 90 days.  Schrag sees the danger in this program that may be too hasty and rely too much on "whips and chains," without changing the funding structure.

The past 20 years in California have been marked by an increasing split between users of social services--  mostly the young, the poor and minorities-- and the voters, older, wealthier and whiter.  A new force in the state's politics is its growing Latino population.  In 1994, Latinos represented 9 percent of California’s total electorate.  In 1998, they are close to 13 percent.  Latino representation in the state legislature has also increased significantly in the past few years, although at the expense of African-American representation. Racial tensions have increased with the approval of Proposition 209, which abolished preferential treatment for minorities in college admission.  The consequence of Proposition 209 was a significant reduction in minority enrollment in the top Californian colleges.  The current governor supports policy that requires all state colleges to accept the top 4 percent students of all state schools and de-emphasize SAT I and AP courses in the admission process.  This measure may raise the total number of Latinos and African-Americans in the state colleges by 10 percent.  Even then, their representation will be no more than 13 to 14 percent of the total student population in universities.

The game of passing propositions for the greater good has caught up with California and in their desire to undue current social/education problems caused by past propositions, they have created other matters to be settled.  As Schrag states on page 12 in his book, Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future:  "Each measure, because it further reduces governmental discretion, and because it moves control further from the public -- from local to state government, from the legislature to the constitution, from simple majorities to supermajorities -- makes it even harder to write budgets, respond to changing needs, and set reasonable priorities."  In America, Schrag comments, children tend to be the default issue when there is no serious issue to worry about.  The national trend toward "being tough" and fiscal conservatism mirror the Californian trends of late 1970s.  The country would be wise to reflect on California’s experience as it embarks on these policies.

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