CALIFORNIA BUDGET CHALLENGE UPDATED
Pending passage of a final state budget, Next 10 has updated our California Budget Challenge again this year to reflect revised budget numbers and new policy options for users to consider. This dynamic educational tool puts you in control of balancing the budget. Individuals are able to grapple with the tough trade-offs involved in crafting the state’s $140 billion budget. Users decide based on their vision and values for California’s future what spending to cut or increase and whether to raise revenues to balance the $12.6 billion deficit we project looking out five years.
Since we first launched the 2008 update in March, we have presented the Challenge at over thirty events across the state using instant-response clickers that give everyone a voice in the budget process. Venues from high school and college classrooms to legislative town halls, civic and education group meetings to political clubs have all become better engaged in the process using the Budget Challenge.
Updated spending policy options in the July 2008 update include K-12 education, higher education, healthcare, human services, criminal justice, the environment, retiree health, and jobs and the economy. Updated revenue policy options include income tax, sales tax, car tax, corporate tax, tax expenditures, property tax, and carbon tax.
Please check out the July update to the Budget Challenge today and let us know what you think!
We also have updated our California Budget Choices brochure, which is an eight-page highly visual overview of the state budget that we have available on our website in five different languages here: http://www.next10.org/budget/brochure.html
License the Budget Challenge
Have you seen the budget challenge of the Los Angeles Unified School District? They created their own using the Budget Challenge Kit! If you are interested in learning more about licensing the Budget Challenge, please contact Byron Dougherty at byron@next10.org.
We love to hear from you, so please let us know your feedback! We will be back in touch soon to update you again on our work.