It started as a class project - but turned into a serious effort for students like Oakland Unity Senior Estephania Franco.
Franco: "We want an educational revolution and I think it's time."
Franco is one of the students gathering signatures for a measure that would eliminate tuition and fees for resident students who maintain a 2.7 G-P-A or do 70 hours of community service a year. The funding would come from higher income taxes on Californians who earn more than 250-thousand dollars:
Franco: "Not only will it encourage other people to go to school and pursue higher education, but California's economy is going to be way better off."
The students admit they're not likely to qualify for the
ballot. They need about one million signatures, and have
two-thousand so far. Franco claims that since Governor Jerry
Brown's recent compromise with proponents of the so-called
"millionaires tax," the student measure is the only one that would
specifically fund higher education.
