Governor Jerry Brown’s November tax initiative boils down to raising taxes across our state.

He wants to raise sales taxes by one-quarter percent for four years, and he wants to increase personal income taxes by 3 percent for seven years on residents who make over $250,000 annually.

Gov. Brown has been steadfast in his push for tax increases, cutting deals and rewriting his legislation to appeal to a larger audience, suggesting a tax increase is the only way to support education at all levels, while also helping to bridge the gap in our $16-billion state budget.

His other main goals before November include installing pension reform across the state to help cut costs, and of course, continuing forward with the high-speed rail project.

When Californians look at these options in November and consider voting for a temporary tax increase, we hope they will consider the importance of education for our state, and indeed our nation.

We at The Pioneer place a great deal of value on preserving and improving public education for our entire state, especially higher public education.

The improvement and support of public education at all levels, from K-12 to college is absolutely vital to our state’s well being. California, currently the world’s ninth largest economy, needs to stay economically and technologically competitive to sustain any hope of stability for our future.

Systems like the CSU, which produce graduates who will become the future leaders, lawmakers, engineers and environmentalists for the state must be supported, not degraded.

If Gov. Brown’s tax initiative does not pass, not only will billions of dollars be cut from K-12 education, the CSU and UC systems will both face a $250-million cut, only adding to the complex financial woes of these institutions.

While we understand the tax initiative may have its flaws, we strongly support the governor’s tax initiative.

Education is simply too important to the shared success and prosperity of our state and nation, and we must do all that we can to support it every step of the way.

The CSU system is already in enough trouble as it is. It has seen $750-million, or 39 percent, of its state funding cut since the 2007-08 school year. Even if the tax increase is approved come November, the CSU still faces a $130-million gap in its funding.

If millions more are cut at this critical time, the options left to sustain the system are bleak: further tuition increases seem to be the popular choice, even though a 9 percent jack up in costs for this coming fall has already been approved.

The CSU could still vote to accept a “tuition buyout” from the state in September, which would roll back the fees until at least the next school year. Chancellor Charles Reed said in a financial meeting Tuesday that refunding the nearly three-fourths of the CSU’s roughly 430,000 students who have already paid this fall’s tuition would be a nightmare, so they could offer tuition credit to students.

The other option for cutting costs if the funding doesn’t turn up would be to scale back enrollment and reject over 6,000 students next year, and to subsequently cut over 750 jobs across the system, while cutting the remaining employees’ salaries and benefits by 5.25 percent.

The 23-campus system also approved salary increases for three of four new incoming campus presidents, though the money is said to be sourced from private foundations of each college, not state money. The CSU continues to argue that to attract the best talent, the salaries and compensation packages they offer will have to remain competitive.

It’s plain to see the CSU system is in dire straits. Cutting more funding from an already struggling system would essentially be kicking public education while it’s already face down in the dirt.

We cannot support voting down a tax measure that could result in higher student fees, less access to higher education, layoffs and employee benefit reductions.

We must do everything we can to ensure the ability to obtain a higher education in California continues to be attainable by as many people as possible. The best way to continue that dream is to pass the tax initiative come November.