Gov. Jerry Brown spoke on the Bakersfield College campus Oct. 23 in support of Proposition 30.

In his speech, Brown told California’s voters the choice they have this election.

“It’s really a stark question here,” he said. “Are you for the schools? Do you want to put money in? This is second grade arithmetic, billions in the schools, or billions out of the schools.

“There is no compromise. You vote for Proposition 30, you know you’re getting six to eight billion dollars pumped into California schools to help our school kids and make our state better. If you vote no, they take out six million, it’s that simple.”

Brown also told voters that Proposition 30 and the issue of education funding goes beyond usual politics.

“You vote for a politician, maybe he changes his mind, you don’t know what you’re getting,” he said. “This is not about elected officials or politicians or Sacramento or Washington, it’s about you, the students of California. It’s about families. It’s about teachers. It’s about California having the educational opportunity that built this state in the first place.”

Brown’s stop in Bakersfield was part of a two-week tour of California promoting Proposition 30. After his Bakersfield stop, he left for Fresno.

Brown spoke to around 150 students, faculty and citizens in the courtyard next to the administration building. Groups of people were holding “Yes on 30” signs, including some faculty. When Brown first stepped up to the podium, the gathered people clapped and screamed.

Brown opened his speech by holding up a “Yes on Prop. 30” sign and saying, “I’ll put this sign out here just so everybody gets the idea. It’s yes on 30 right?” This comment also elicited a response from the crowd.

Many other figures of Bakersfield’s community and education system spoke in favor of Proposition 30, such as state Sen.  Michael Rubio, the president of the United Farm Workers Arturo Rodriguez, and chancellor of the Kern Community College District Sandra Serrano.

Rubio, who started his higher education at BC, believes that the vote on Proposition 30 is important.

“There is no greater election than this one coming up,” he said.

“Because I was a student here not too long ago, I know the direct impacts.”

Brown was asked what his response is to critics of Proposition 30 that say that the money is already in Sacramento and that the proposition has no guarantee of going to community colleges.

He responded by saying that advertising campaigns by opponents of Proposition 30 are inaccurate.

“They have an ad that says that Proposition 30 will increase tax on gasoline,” he said.

“Untrue, a complete falsehood, and when people lie on one topic, you got to be suspicious on everything else they say.”

He then explained exactly how he believes Proposition 30 works.

“When I prepared the budget last year, I could have added another six billion dollars in cuts, or I could hope that people in California would vote for a tax,” he explained.

“I couldn’t get the legislator because I couldn’t get the Republican votes, so I went out and got a million signatures to put Proposition 30 on the ballot. I included 30 as passing as part of my budget. Now the trouble is that if it doesn’t pass, we have these trigger cuts that take out the six billion. So this is a matter of on or off.”