How Closing Big Oil Tax Loopholes Will Keep Class Sizes Small for California Students

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

In this week’s Democratic weekly radio address, Speaker-elect Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar) explain how closing Big Oil tax loopholes will keep class sizes small for California students.

You may listen in English or Spanish or read the transcript below.

Hello, this is Assembly Speaker-elect Karen Bass.

This year, California faced a $15 billion budget deficit, but through a combination of spending cuts and other measures, legislative Democrats worked with our Republican colleagues to cut that deficit in half.

Legislative Democrats understand the severity of the budget crisis means difficult choices must be made, and we’ve had to swallow cuts on many vital services.

But to balance the remaining $7.5 billion budget deficit through across the board cuts, without bringing in new revenue as the Republicans have proposed, would bring too much harm to the state.

Take education.

When the Governor announced his proposal to cut over $4 billion from education, students, teachers, parents, and community leaders fought back, organizing rallies and walk-outs and flooding school board meetings.

They are concerned that our state’s K-12 schools cannot withstand such drastic cuts.

Already, thousands of California teachers are getting layoff notices.

These cuts are unacceptable, particularly since California is ranked 46 out of 50 states in per pupil spending.

But while California is facing billions in cuts to schools, big oil companies are raking in record profits – without paying for the oil they take from California.

Of the 22 oil producing states in the country, California is the only one that doesn’t tax oil extracted within its boundaries.