For the first time in many years, thanks to the passage of Prop 30, California has balanced its budget without draconian cuts to education and critical services.  After a decade of disinvestment in California’s education, infrastructure and safety net, now is the time to reinvest.

Sadly, many legislators are suggesting that we accept the current low levels of spending as the “new normal.”  Instead, they want to prioritize savings and debt reduction instead of restoring the damage that has taken its toll in our communities over the last ten years.

California Calls has joined a broad alliance of groups across the state calling for “$5 Billion More” to be reinvested in education and services. This month, the 31 member organizations of California Calls will deploy scores of grassroots leaders to contact 100,000 voters.  This will be our 12th Civic Engagement Program, focusing on young, immigrant and senior voters who were most impacted by the budget cuts of prior years. In conversations at their front doors and on the phone, voters will discuss how they are coping with inadequate services and weigh in on the opportunities for California to reinvest in our communities.

If our legislators looked at the real story about California’s revenue drought, they’d see that three decades of an eroding tax base due to Proposition 13’s commercial property tax provisions caused great harm in our communities. Help us spread the word by sharing the true story of “California’s Revenue Drought” on Facebook and Twitter .