Ryan Gene Williams responds to Steve Westly free college proposal
I challenged Ryan Gene Williams, the Republican college student who is running for the 69th Assembly District to come up with a response to the ludicrous proposal by Democrat Steve Westly to pay for two-year community college degrees. Here is what Williams came up with:
Today, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly proposed a plan to give free tuition to community college students if they earn a two-year degree. According to Mr. Westly, it is likely to cost California taxpayers an extra $100-200 million to implement this type of program, on top of the $61 billion the state spends on education already.
This new program is designed to help students get a two-year degree without being saddled with a bunch of personal debt. After they earn their degree, the state will forgive those loans. Although to not be saddled with debt sounds nice, the fact is you cannot implement this without shifting that debt elsewhere.
First off, where will the money come from? Will the Democrat-controlled legislature raise taxes even more to pay for this program? Or, will they actually use some of the funds already spent on our super-saturated education budget to implement this? What will the overall cost be to the people of California?
The Democrats may say that our kids will be educated, but the sad truth is, some will sit in class, fall asleep, make so-so grades, and receive their two-year degree by having the state pay for them to just sit there. Personally, it sounds like how our state deals with our public school system. The school districts are paid by attendance, not by performance.
Quite frankly, I think this is a sad welfare-like program that will undermine the efforts of other hardworking students who actually earn their degrees. This program doesn
Gee not reward a C average student. Didn’t Republicans award a C average student with the Presidency? HMMMMMM
Of course the Westly proposal is going nowhere and not well thought out. Westly means well but like many politicians doesn’t think through all the consequences. If Ryan took the time to read the Westly speech it spells out where it would come from and thats even more reason why its DOA.
But the young man needs to bone up on community college issues. Big hikes in tuition under Davis and Arnold did keep many from attending college. And it was not too long ago that community colleges were tuition free(pre-Pete Wilson). Those days are gone but the only way to ensure an educated workforce is to keep college affordable. Plenty of Republican college trustees. Go talk to one of them.