Vouchers go down hard

The school voucher initiative would have required that the state give $4,000 annually for each child to enroll in a private school.

After four years all private school children would have been eligible for the same voucher. Proponents, led by a former state board of education member and Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Tim Draper, advocated that vouchers for private schools would give parents more choices to pull their children out of failing schools. A more competitive system would, in the end, bolster up public schools.

Opponents led by educational groups, like the California Teachers Association, charges that vouchers would take needed money away from public schools, which depend on student enrollment for funding, and would cost taxpayers a calculated $3 billion, when accounting for the current 700,000 students enrolled in private schools in the state. They also charged that public money would be going to fund education without state standards.

The campaigns for and against Proposition 38 ran neck and neck throughout much of the election season, but in recent weeks tipped two to one in the opponents' favor. Both sides poured over $20 million into the campaign. Draper backed the proposition with $23 million of his own money — much of it going to television and radio advertisements. They had the support of a number of tax associations, churches and Arizona Sen. John McCain. 

Opposition to the proposition gained a lot of ground with teachers, public educators, labor unions, and California Gov. Gray Davis, who was vocal in condemning school vouchers. Vice President Al Gore gave his stamp of disapproval on California vouchers, and the National Education Association, which has worked against vouchers, returned the favor with an endorsement of Gore based on his positions on education.

The school voucher proposition has drawn national attention this year, with supporters of vouchers looking to California as the leader in the movement. Proponents and opponents held their breaths in the hopes that California would set a trend, whether that be the start or defeat of the voucher movement. Michigan's proposition on vouchers failed this year by a landslide -— it was limited to students from schools with a less than two-thirds graduation rate.

Lenzer said that the defeat of both voucher initiatives could spell an end to the national voucher movement.

"The defeat of vouchers in California and Michigan tell the rest of the country that the voucher flame is dying out," he said.

Ralph Flynn, an organizer for the No of Prop 38 campaign, said before the results came in, "It's our hope here to get a decisive victory so that it resonates throughout the nation that we'd rather invest in our public schools than take a gamble with vouchers."

The California Teachers Association was active throughout he campaign, running a five-day a week evening phone banking campaign since early September. The local CTA field office recruited teachers and members of the public who alone called over 16,000 registered voters to get their message out against vouchers — right up until the last hour. Last night opponents made calls urging other identified opponents to get out and vote before the polls closed. Flynn said that the danger in a presidential election year is that west coast voters often take their clue from what happens on the east cost.

"What we're kind of afraid is that they'll see the East and it will discourage them from going out to vote," he said. Around a thousand more calls were made from the CTA field office at the last minute.

"We think the participation by our members is wonderful," said Marilyn Aden, a staff member at the local field office of the California Teachers Association who made last-minute calls last night. "Teachers came in after school, after they've put in a full day's work. The public has been receptive to talking with us and has received our message."

Steve Savage, a seventh and eighth grade teacher and union president in South San Francisco, went out to the phone banking office 17 times during the campaign, bringing with him each time teachers, parents, and school staff. Savage himself called 500 teachers and reached several hundred registered voters. "The public response was overwhelming," Savage said, adding that most people he talked with were firmly against the proposition. But with some he really had to work — Savage spoke with a teacher who was trying to get a job at a private school because her salary was so low in the public school district. "She thought the proposition would help her get a job," Savage said. "But she wasn't aware that the proposition would allow the hiring of non-college graduates. It's a lower paid work force she would be competing with."

Organizers for the No on Prop 38 campaign said that educating voters was one of their main tactics is garnering opposition among voters. Aden said that the cost of vouchers and the issue of accountability were the two issues that caught voters' attention.

"Those are the things that start to register for California voters," Aden said. "If they're going to pay the tax dollars, accountability is an issue."