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Hawthorne Press Tribune Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - November 3, 2016 Hawthorne Can’t Get Offense Rolling in Loss The Hawthorne High School football team could not overcome four turnovers in a 35-7 Ocean League loss to El Segundo last Friday at Halcap field. No. 44 Dylan Radke and Adrian Johnson sack Hawthorne quarterback Marte Mapu. The Cougars drop to 3-6 on the season and 2-2 in league play. Hawthorne will finish the season when they travel to Lawndale Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Photo by Greg McMullin Final Week Dedicated to Approval of Proposition 55 By Cristian Vasquez income brackets, forcing them to continue With less than a week until the election, carrying a fiscal burden that was supposed there is a final push by all candidates and to be temporary under Proposition 30. In propositions to obtain voter approval. Among addition, it is argued that since the state has those efforts is the push for voters to say yes reduced it debt and gone from a $16 billion to Proposition 55. deficit in 2012 to a $2.7 billion surplus this Proposition 55, the California Children’s year, there is no need for the tax to continue. Education and Health Care Protection Act, Still, supporters see more value in having those adds a 12-year extension to the current income tax-generated funds available for education tax rates on single Californians earning more than in eliminating the tax. than $250,000 and couples earning more than $500,000 a year. “Every time we go out to speak one-on-one with the community, they have been very receptive,” 5th Grade Teacher at Kornblum Elementary School George Amaya said. “It is not that we are asking for extra anything, we are just asking to keep things solvent so we “Every position that we have here is a can be productive in the classroom.” crucial and an integral part of the education If approved Proposition 55 will prevent machine,” Amaya said. “If we are missing a billions of dollars in budget cuts without the dean, coaches or teachers in the classroom, it need to raise taxes; the initiative is expected changes the dynamic and makes things more to generate an average of $8 billion per year, difficult because children come to school no which would be used to continue funding matter what.” education. In 2012 California voters approved In 2009 and 2010, the Hawthorne School Proposition 30, which raised the sales tax District was at risk of losing more than 150 from 7.25 to 7.5 percent in an effort to fund teachers, which makes up a quarter of the education. That proposition also created four district’s teaching force. The school district and high-income tax brackets for people earning its employees, which have a strong working more than $250,000, $300,000, $500,000 and relationship, were able to navigate the difficult $1,000,000, which Proposition 55 would extend financial times and are hoping to avoid losing for more than a decade. funds again. “Unfortunately Proposition 30 sunsets and “Before we had Prop 30 we had furlough some of the funding that we received goes days, causing students to miss out on too much away wit it; if it goes away here in Hawthorne of the school year; we were doing layoffs every we could lose $10 million,” Amaya said. single year, class sizes were getting bigger, and “Proposition 55 is basically a continuation of we didn’t have much of the support that we Proposition 30 but the sales tax element goes have now and that allows us to provide to our away; the only tax that remains is that tax on schools and our students,” Hawthorne School wealthier Californians.” District Superintendent Dr. Helen Morgan However, opponents to proposition 55 point said. “Now we are able to have deans at out that the tax singles out people in certain every school, counselors, intervention teachers, content coaches and a staff that provides all the extra support for teachers and students to better perform.” In addition, if certain budgetary requirements are met, the initiative will provide up to $2 billion annually to improve healthcare access to low- income families. The focus is on preventative care and aims to keep kids healthy in order to save the state money in the long run. The funds generated if the proposition passes will be used to prevent any cuts to the state’s community colleges, which in turn will avoid raises in tuition while helping to provide more classes. The state estimates that an additional 22,000 teachers will be needed by next year, making approval of Prop 55 crucial for school districts to be able to afford to hire new teachers. “One of the unanticipated side effects of the roller coaster that is education funding is the lack of job security, especially for a brand new teacher out of school,” Dr. Morgan said. “It is not a tremendously well-paying job for a college degree level position so we end up with teacher shortages. We had a loss of teachers, but when we got all of this funding back we were able to add back positions; but now we are at a point where we have a teacher shortage again.” While Proposition 55 has received broad support from diverse groups, teachers supporting the ballot measure have one thing in mind. “This is not a nine to five job; we do work long hours, we do take work home and work way passed the hours that we are supposed to and it is because we love our job,” Amaya said. “You have to have a passion for it; you didn’t become a teacher for the money because we aren’t going to get rich from this; we do this because we have a passion for it and want to help others. “We help shape these children for the future and at least I don’t take that for granted,” Amaya concluded. • “Proposition 55 is basically a continuation of Proposition 30 but the sales tax element goes away.” Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Classifieds............................3 Food.......................................5 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals................................ 6-7 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................2 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy 73˚/58˚ Saturday Sunny 71˚/59˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 68˚/57˚ The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne


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