With two days until Election Day, the opposition has continued to come strong against Proposition 30 with ads that cast a shadow over voter confidence in Governor Brown’s ability to keep money in schools and out of the hands of legislators.

The big question surrounding the measure that would save K-12 and higher education from billions of dollars in trigger cuts is whether Brown can be trusted to allot all the money derived from a rise in sales tax and income tax on wealthy Californians exclusively to education. According to UCLA professor and California state budget expert Daniel J.B. Mitchell, nothing can be as airtight as people want it to be.

“Anything that is in the budget can always be overridden by the legislature,” Mitchell said. “There’s nothing that is absolutely set in concrete. There is no 100 percent guarantee. There’s always some way no matter what kind of formulas you have…there’s always way to re-channel revenue.”

However, Mitchell said that there are law, such as Proposition 98, that do designate a set amount of the state budget to education.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “there’s just so much of the state budget that goes to the schools that if you put more money in, somehow the money is going to go to the schools no matter what you do.”

On the other hand, attorney Molly Munger who penned Proposition 38 as an alternative measure to Brown’s initiative, has created doubt as to whether the governor will keep his word. Her ballot measure specifically sets aside money for education by raising income taxes on all Californians.

Though her solution may not be the best answer either. Director of Policy Analysis for California Education and UC Berkeley Professor Bruce Fuller understands the public’s concern, but he believes that the governor and the legislature need breathing room in the budget.

“The legislature and the governor are faced with some really hard decisions about priorities,” Fuller said. “Do you cut schools? Do you cut home based aid nurses for the elderly? Do you cut state parks? Anything that constrains Sacramento’s flexibility could lead to distorted priorities.”

The back and forth between 38 and 30 has brought down voter support for Proposition 30 from above 60 percent to below 50 percent in polls of likely voters. Mitchell said that Proposition 38 hasn’t gained too much momentum in those same polls either because middle class Californians are immediately turned off by the idea of an income tax raise.

Come Tuesday, Brown will not just be asking for a vote for education, but for a vote of trust as to where taxpayer money will actually end up.

Reach reporter Judy Wang here.