School Beat: Drop Everything for the Special Election

by Lisa Schiff, 2005-11-03

Apologies for being a broken record, but apart from the "routine" responsibilities of making sure kids are well-cared for, there is nothing more important for public education supporters to be doing right now than getting out the vote for the special election this coming Tuesday, November 8th.

Precinct walking is a great option; contact the Alliance for a Better California to get more details on how to participate (http://www.betterca.com) or just knock on all your neighbors' doors. If that's not your style, anything you can think of to get one more person to the polls is a great contribution, as each single vote will be significant.

This election is about nothing less than setting public priorities and further changing the balance of power. Of the eight measures on the ballot, the Governor has put forth four-Propositions 74, 75, 76 and 77. These propositions are part of a continuing effort to weaken and privatize the public sector and further concentrate financial and political power in the hands of those who already hold too much of it. Public schools will face long-term consequences from these measures, especially from 74, 75 and 76.

Proposition 74 would make teachers wait 5 years before they can get past their probationary period. Coincidentally, this just happens to be when a large chunk of teachers decide to leave the profession. Everyone acknowledges that teaching is a hard job, and certainly the working conditions at present leave much to be desired. Adding insecurity to insult, to mangle a phrase, is not a successful strategy for encouraging people with ideas and enthusiasm to enter into the teaching profession.

Indeed, what Proposition 74 has been most effective at is diverting attention and resources away from other issues, like that $2 billion of borrowed 2004-2005 Proposition 98 monies public schools were supposed to be getting back. A cynic might note that Proposition 74 came about after teachers (and parents) held many successful, well-publicized events and demonstrations demanding the return of those dollars.

Proposition 75 is an attempt to strangle what is currently the single-most effective counter to corporate political speech-political activity by unions. Prop 75 proposes placing a lop-sided burden on public employee labor unions to get each member to assert that a portion of their dues can be used for political purposes. But employees can already choose not to have their dollars used in this way by opting-out of the union and instead paying a fee to cover costs related to collective-bargaining efforts. Further, such a requirement is not being extended to other entities such as public companies, in which shareholders might have similar concerns.

Again one should note that it has been the public employee unions-the teachers and the firefighters, joined by other labor groups such as nurses--that have been the most vocal and consistent in their criticisms of the Governor.

Proposition 76 is the most treacherous of all the propositions. Its primary goals are to reduce overall public spending and to provide the sitting Governor with the ability to manipulate the budget without oversight by the Legislature. The reduction in public school financing comes from several angles:

. allowing the suspension of minimum funding without requiring repayment (in other words, it would legalize and make routine what the Governor already did with our 2004-2005 Proposition 98 money);
. preventing above-minimum allocations for schools; and
. prohibiting the disbursement of excess state revenues to public schools.

California is already putting far too few resources into its schools, especially given the high standards that have been developed and are being used to evaluate our students. It is unfair, to say the least, to set expectations without providing the requisite resources to meet those demands. Prop 76 is looking at education funding in all the wrong ways, as a liability as opposed to as an investment.

But schools aren't alone in suffering under this measure. More generally, Prop 76 would put a limit on overall state spending and set a very strict standard for triggering a "financial" crisis-when the General Fund revenues have fallen by a minimum of 1.5%. If such a "crisis" were declared, the Legislature would have 45 days to alter the budget accordingly, and if they did not, the Governor would be entitled to unilaterally cut any item in the budget he or she so desired. This is not democracy in action.

Proposition 77 is the latest redistricting ploy, this time using retired judges as a switch and bait technique to hide the fact that the first redistricting would happen before the next census. In addition, 77 creates additional processes and infrastructures that will merely veil the political interests behind redistricting and make every redistricting proposal subject to voter approval, in the vein of our traditional initiative process.

The four other propositions on the ballot are also of great importance. Proposition 73 is would effectively limit access to safe abortions for young women and misguidedly seeks to legislate relationships between teens and their parents. 73 needs to be voted down in a resounding way, both for its immediate implications and because it opens the door for more anti-choice efforts in the future.

Proposition 78 is the pharmaceutical industry's attempt to forestall enforceable price controls. Vote no on this and yes on Proposition 79, which is its beneficial alter-ego. Finally, Proposition 80 is a start at re-regulating the energy industry and structuring in more use of renewable energy sources. Voting yes on 80 shows that we're serious about addressing our energy situation.

For more details about the propositions, including the full text and supporting/opposing statements, check out http://www.calvoter.org. And don't forget to vote.

Lisa Schiff is the parent of two children who attend McKinley Elementary School in the San Francisco Unified School District and is the president of the board of directors of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco (http://www.ppssf.org).