Voucher Test in California

Lines are drawn, and the battle will be waged on a November statewide special-election ballot. On one side are a large number of California parents frustrated with the public-school system. In opposition are an equally large number of teachers, school administrators, and their unions. Somewhere, in the middle, are the children.

The Parent Choice in Education Initiative, Proposition 174, would amend the California Constitution to provide parents with a yearly voucher for each child’s education. The vouchers, worth $2,600—approximately half what is now spent by the state to educate public-school students—could be used at any public, private, or religious school.

Ballot battles have been fought before, with Colorado and Oregon recently rejecting voucher initiatives. But the stakes are higher in California, with its 5.2 million public-school students and annual $25 billion kindergarten-through-twelfth grade budget. Odd alliances have formed in supporting the initiative, with the Religious Right joined by low-income minority advocates.

A question of choice

“The problem is that we have a public-school system that is not only low on quality, but offers very few options for families,” says Yes On 174 spokesperson Alan Bonsteel. “Elementary fairness asks that everyone have the right to choose the best possible education for their children.”

Supporters believe the empowerment will result in public schools reducing class size, offering incentives Bonsteel to good teachers, and taking stronger action against on-site crime and drugs.

Some concerns of opponents are that Proposition 174 will undermine funding for public schools, that only the affluent who already have children in private schools will benefit, and that it will destroy the “melting pot” opportunity provided by public education.

Christian home schoolers, while not immediately affected, are caught in the barrage of campaign rhetoric. Roy Hanson, legislative consultant for the Private/Home Educators of California, says some initiative proponents are upset his group is raising only low-profile opposition. He finds it difficult to understand why “one would attack choice in the name of promoting choice.” He says the group is “opposed in principle to any subsidy-type program,” believing “God commands parents, not the government, to be responsible.”

Witch curriculum?

The whole affair is not without a flair for the dramatic. Two self-proclaimed witches of a coven located northeast of San Francisco have proclaimed their intention of starting a school should voters approve. The publicity is being used against initiative proponents.

“We presently have 2,700 private schools in California,” responds Bonsteel, “and it has been demonstrated that the current regulations for these schools are more than sufficient to prevent this type of fringe school.”

Bonsteel says, “We want spiritually based schools to keep their integrity and set their own high standards.” He says one of the witches is a former public-school teacher and the other is a former employee of the California Teachers Association.

“Anyone with 25 students can open up a school with no teacher credentials or key subjects required,” says Rick Ruiz, press secretary for No on 174. “Basically you have school choice, not parental choice.”

The National Education Association (NEA) has pledged $1 million to defeat the initiative. Past support totaling $1 million from the NEA-affiliated California Teachers Association helped voucher opponents collect three times the amount raised by proponents during the first six months of 1993.

Raymond Haynes, 66th District assemblyman, says teacher unions and administrators have a reason unrelated to education to oppose Proposition 174. “Their hysteria about this initiative has only one source and that is fear,” Haynes says. “They fear the loss of money, political power, and influence.”

In an August poll, the voucher plan trailed by 10 points, 46 percent to 36 percent, with another 18 percent undecided. Sara DiVito Hardman, Christian Coalition of California director, says her group plans to distribute four million voter guides to churches, plus sponsor statewide radio ads on minority radio stations. “If California goes, it will start a ground swell throughout the country like we can’t imagine.”

By Patricia C. Roberts in Sacramento.

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