Alexandra Duarte Opposes Prop. 3. If It Fails, a Tax That Helps Pay for Special Education and Other School Programs Expires in 2031.

On Nov. 3, California voters will decide Proposition 3, which would make permanent the higher income tax rates on the state’s top earners that voters first approved in 2012. If it fails, those rates expire in 2031. Most of the money from the tax that goes to education goes to K-12 schools, and it has helped pay for special education, among other programs.

Alexandra Duarte opposes it. Asked at a September forum whether she supported Prop. 3, she said: “This is another classic state tactic. ‘Let’s increase taxes; we’re out of money.’” She added: “Increasing taxes will not fix the problem.”

What Prop. 3 does

The tax applies only to the highest incomes in the state: single filers who make more than $371,000 a year and couples filing jointly who make more than $743,000, LAist reports. Those thresholds rise each year with inflation. “The top 2 percent of California taxpayers pay these higher rates,” according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal adviser. The office estimates that keeping the tax would bring in $5 billion to $15 billion a year, depending largely on the stock market. “Roughly 40 percent of the funding would go to schools and community colleges,” the analyst’s office says. The rest would go to other state programs, with part set aside in reserves. CalMatters reports that 89% of the education share goes to K-12 schools and 11% to community colleges, and that local school boards decide how to spend it.

What it pays for

“Revenue from this source has helped pay for special education, community schools, before- and after-school programs, summer learning, teacher support, dual enrollment in college courses, bilingual education, and universal school meals,” according to Ed100, a nonprofit education guide.

Supporters say losing it would mean cuts. The California Teachers Association, which put the measure on the ballot, says that without it, “our public schools face a devastating 15% budget cut; 1 in 6 educators would face layoffs.” Those are the union’s estimates. The official ballot arguments for the measure, signed by the leaders of the teachers association, the California School Nurses Organization and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, warn of “teacher layoffs, overcrowded classrooms and bigger class sizes.”

Opponents, including the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the Central Valley Business Federation, argue that the tax was promised as temporary. “California doesn’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem,” their ballot argument says.

What Duarte has said

At the September forum, Duarte argued that “businesses can provide a sound economy so that California can be the amazing state that it has the ability to be.” She did not say, in the Turlock Journal’s account, how schools would replace the money if the tax expires, and we found no statement from her on that question. Her opponent, Democrat Jaron Brandon, described the measure as an existing tax on the highest income bracket that would bring in “$5 billion to $15 billion a year for education.”

Alexandra Duarte, a Republican, is running for California State Senate District 4 on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot. She is married to former Rep. John Duarte, who has served as president of Duarte Nursery.