It was a festive atmosphere as students and faculty rejoiced at Prop 30’s passage last Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Winning by 54 percent in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the proposition to temporarilty raise taxes on California’s wealthy to provide funding for California’s public schools and colleges proved to be a tough one.
The youth vote was imperative in the passing of this proposition.
Exit polls from Tuesday suggested that over 25 percent of voters in California were 18 to 29 -year-olds.
At De Anza College, many students and faculty were happy to see the result of their hard  work and efforts to raise awareness in getting this cruicial proposition to pass.
Nadine Talaat, executive vice-president of the DASB senate said she felt happy about the result.
“I feel good. It gives me some hope,” she said.
 “At the same time, there is still going to be cuts, so we still have a long way to go.”
Letha JeanPierre, vice president of Financial and Educational Resources, explained  that the  De Anza community entered this fiscal year facing two senarios.
“The best case scenario was if Prop 30 passed and the worst case scenario was if it failed,” she said.
“We were facing anything between a $5.7 million dollar deficit for the district to $11.9 million and were peparing for the worst.”
Budget teams were advised to prepare proposed reduction plans in case Prop 30 did not pass.
While the district still faces a deficit of $5.7 million, students and instructors are prepared to do their part.
With the passing of Prop 30, Brice W. Harris, chancellor of California Community Colleges, confirmed that the passage means an additional funding of $210 million for California Community Colleges this year.
As a result, 20,000 students across the state will be allowed to take classes and there will not be severe budget cuts to the school system.
Even with the passing of Prop 30, the job to create awareness is not done for many students and faculty.
“The next step is to gain more student involvement on campus,” said Talaat.
“It is now our responsibility to keep the momentum going. The battle is not won yet, and it is an uphill road.
“The support we can garner when we work together is inspiring, so why stop now?”