VOTERS SAY NO // School-voucher plan can't make the
grade //ELECTION '93: The ballyhooed education revolt
of the '90s fizzles as Californians vote Prop. 174
down.
DATE 11/03/93
NEWSPAPER THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SECTION NEWS
EDITION MORNING
PAGE A10
STORY LENGTH 33 INCHES
HEADLINE VOTERS SAY NO // School-voucher plan can't make the
grade //ELECTION '93: The ballyhooed education revolt
of the '90s fizzles as Californians vote Prop. 174
down.
BYLINE/CREDIT DAN FROOMKIN:The Orange County Register
SUBJECT TERMS OC:ELECTIONS:RESULT:SCHOOLS:FINANCE:
It was supposed to be the first huge salvo of the education
revolt of the 1990s. Sort of like Proposition 13 was to the tax
revolt of the 1970s.
But California's voters instead apparently decided Tuesday that
Proposition 174 would do more harm than good, and were resoundingly
defeating the far-reaching school-voucher initiative.
After a bitter and unbalanced campaign, which was closely
monitored not only in California but across the nation, the
initiative was going down by more than a 2-to-1 ratio.
Even in Orange County, where the conservative authors of the
initiative had counted on strong support, voters turned a decisive
thumbs-down on Prop. 174. The margin of defeat was more than 20
percent countywide.
"I think what this says is that Proposition 174 was a very bad
proposed piece of legislation, and that vouchers are not the right
answer," said Bob Nelson, whose Irvine-based political consulting
group planned the No on 174 campaign strategies.
"But that doesn't mean our schools don't need help," he said.
"They need a lot of help."
Nelson said voters realized that Prop. 174 was a "non-solution."
"I think they saw Proposition 174 as a negative for the
neighborhood schools," he said.
At an election-night party at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott,
supporters of the initiative conceded defeat, but vowed they would
return.
"We fought the good fight, and this is the beginning of the
battle," said Yes on 174 spokesman Sean Walsh. "Not only for school
choice in California, but for school choice nationwide."
Walsh said supporters were so outspent they never managed to get
their message across. But, he said, "The people here are dead-set
committed to seeing this happen."
And Walsh said that if nothing else, the campaign called
attention to dissatisfaction with the current system, so "the
education establishment just can't go back to business as usual."
The backers of Prop. 174 had pitched their initiative as a bold
attempt to destroy the government monopoly on state-funded
schooling, as a way to let competition loose on a system being
strangled to death by regulations and union control.
But the public discussion of Prop. 174 quickly turned away from
theory and toward practice.
In practice, the initiative would have created a billion-dollar
entitlement for parents -- including very wealthy ones -- who
currently send their children to private school.
In practice, billions of tax dollars would have started to flow
to religious organizations and other, possibly disreputable,
groups, which would have been able to spend the money with few
rules and virtually no accountability.
And in practice, the initiative would have undermined
Proposition 98's minimum public-school funding guarantees,
conceivably sending public-school budgets into a tailspin.
Alarmed by the possible effect on the state treasury and on the
state schools, few California opinion leaders joined the revolt.
Financed in large part by the powerful California Teachers
Association, the No on 174 coalition also fired up a barrage of
television and radio ads, stressing the initiative's quirky
language.
In Orange County, handfuls of free-market activists,
union-haters and parents disillusioned with public schools worked
passionately for the Yes on 174 campaign.
Gathering Tuesday night at a Newport Beach restaurant, Orange
County supporters of Prop. 174 vowed to continue their fight for
vouchers.
"This isn't going to go away until our schools are reformed and
our children are being educated again," said Mark Bucher, head of
the Yes on 174 organization in Orange County.
Bucher said supporters of Prop. 174 are proud of the concessions
educators made about the school system.
"They've been admitting all over the state that the system has
serious problems, but that 174 isn't the way to fix it," Bucher
said.
"Now, I think the people are going to be saying, `OK, what is
the way to fix it?' "
Orange County had more than its share of people in opposition to
Prop. 174 -- teachers, PTA members, parents who support the public
schools and people concerned about government support of private
schools.
And many local opponents gathered Tuesday night at the Anaheim
Hilton to watch the returns.
"I am so pleased," said Norma Potter, an Anaheim schoolteacher
and CTA board member. "The whole education family has worked so
hard on this. And the numbers in Orange County are incredible.
"Those are numbers that conservative Orange County normally
doesn't turn out for an education issue."
Had the initiative passed and survived the inevitable court
challenges, it would have given parents taxpayer-funded vouchers
worth about $2,600 per child applicable toward tuition at religious
or other private schools.
Parents would also have had more choice among the regular public
schools, which would have remained free.
Even in loss, however, the supporters of Prop. 174 can point to
some changes their crusade brought about in the state's school
system.
Two new state laws, passed during the heat of the campaign in an
attempt to address some of the issues raised by the initiative,
will soon require schools to admit any student who wants to attend
if there is room after taking local students.
That is expected to vastly expand the parental choice within the
public school system.