Just an added note---and don't call me a racist, please. I'm not. This is just something that I observed.

I watched the schools (my son was in them) go from pretty average to really awful in about 10 years. We had a huge influx of Spanish speaking only students, some in their teens with NO education. My son's school changed dramatically in about five years when he was in elementary school. Cultural values were changed, the whole style of the learning situation shifted.

Many businesses (including some owned by dear friends) paid illegal immigrants cash, no benefits. A lot of that money went South...the post office was jammed with people every week sending money orders to Mexico or elsewhere. Then the families would get food stamps or other government services. I saw all of this...

It doesn't excuse many of the messes in California. There is plenty of blame to go around. But it was certainly a dramatic factor.