I don't often agree with the Star, but I do on this issue. Prop 82 is bad for many reasons. First, it doesn't substantially increase preschool attendance since almost two-thirds of children are already enrolled in a preschool program. So this actually becomes a public subsidy to parents who already pay for preschool but can now dump their kids into a taxpayer-provided program.

Second, there is already a shortage of qualified teacher, with many more scheduled to retire in the coming years. It makes no sense to further strain that shortage by imposing the qualifications mandated by prop 82. You can't mandate this without qualified teachers ready to fill those positions. I also question why we need such rigorous qualifications to manage a group of four-year-old kids. The hidden agenda here is that it is a union-friendly law that will essentially unionize preschool teachers while driving private providers out of business.

Third, if people want public preschools then they should be willing to tax themselves to pay for it. This idea of asking for government programs so long as someone else is paying for them is fundamentally unfair. It also ignores the reality that continually increasing taxes on "rich" people will likely cause them to simply move out of California and take their tax dollars with them. Keep in mind that in 2000 the top 44,000 California taxpayers (just 3/10 of 1%)were already paying 38% of all personal income taxes being collected statewide. This is also a volatile source of income since the incomes of millionaires tends to fluctuate much more than people at lower income level. Just because we create a new millionaire tax is no guarantee that in will actually lead to increased revenues to the state. If the revenues don't meet projections then what is the plan to make up the shortfall after you've created yet another entitlement program?

Fourth, our public school system has been such a complete failure it is astounding to me that we would even consider expanding it further before fixing what we already have. We're making excuses why many of our high school students still can't pass a middle school level exit exam with a high F after seven attempts. And now we are told that if we turn over preschools to the public school system it will the the magic bullet to fix these problems. Yeah, right. Just pull back the veil to see the special interests pushing for this law and it is apparent that the last group this is intended to serve is our kids.

While the Reiner Initiative, Prop 82, may sound good on the surface, it is the underlying facts that make it fiscally unfeasible. The governor has a plan for preschool at one-tenth the cost of the Reiner plan without the unfair tax increase. Prop 82 would take from teachers needed in K-12 where there is already an existing teacher shortage. With the recent repayment of funds to education, a preferred goal by educators and parents to introduce academic rigor and achievement is to reduce class sizes of K-8 to around 25:1. This is feasible because the current class size ratio of 20:1 in K-3 would even out with the higher student teacher ratio of approximately 30:1 in grades 4-8. This would provide for a better classroom education environment in all grades K-8, thereby increasing academic achievement overall. 9-12 student-teacher ratio could reach toward a goal of 30:1. This is not a cap. Due to smaller classes in other programs such as Special Education and Title I programs that often have classes smaller than twenty, mainstream classes often have 36 or more in each class. In order to enact these needed changes, it will take increased funding on a large scale. Declining enrollment districts are ripe for class-size reduction because existing classrooms will become available. The timing for Prop 82 and it's funding mechanism are simply not reasonable. Studies also show that students who do not attend preschool, catch up with their peers by third grade. A better alternative would be to make Kindergarten mandatory. There is not 100% attendance among Kindergarten students in California today. Mandatory Kindergarten is a natural progression of increased educational opportunities for all students. The governor's preschool plan will make preschool more available to preschool age children. In conclusion, safe schools, diagnostic tutoring, mandatory kindergarten, and a class-size reduction plan across the state beginning with declining enrollment districts will provide a better education for all students.

Cathy Carlson from TO here: I am also opposed to Prop 82. I listed my reasons in a letter to the Star a year ago in Feb 2005. It would suck the resources from K-12 programs. Also, the State would have a government file on toddlers, many of whom would be permanently classified as trouble-makers, or emotionally damaged. Such subjective classifications of children are already in the permanent records of elementary school children. The next teacher looks at this, judges the kid before even meeting him, and then adds to the record for the NEXT teacher. This is to protect the teachers from lawsuits. See--we knew Johnny was a problem child from day one.

Also, the argument that religious schools could participate is specious, at best. What pastor, rabbi, or other religious leader would put a congregation at risk for a lawsuit by letting themselves agree to censure any religious teaching or symbols for 3 hours? For many religious people, this is not practical. Would teachers have to remove their crosses or stars of david, out of fear of offending a parent or child during those 3 secular hours? I understand that pictures and stained glass windows will not have to be covered (per the statute I read on federal pre-schools), but children may NOT play with Noah's ark, or color in a religious coloring book. It would be very difficult to purge most religious classrooms of these "offensive" items for such government subsidized classroom time. Rob Reiner didn't think that one through. That's probably because he has never visited or enrolled his kids in a religious school before.

Lastly, it has been found in Scandinavia and Finland that earlier is not better in education. Their kindergarten starts at age 7. Finland has the highest academics in Europe, and the best economy. It vies with Singapore for the best mathematicians in the world at the high school level. As a member of the Los Angeles Finlandia Foundation, and a former resident of Finland, I watch their education statistics closely. They have a winning combination of small family size, older parents, a large education budget, and the most public vocational schools of any country in the world, yet the population is only 6 million.

Prop 82 is a loser. Vote against it AND Democrat Jack "Waiver" O'Connell.

I was an opponent of Prop 82 until the Star editorial came out this morning. I knew I had to re-examine my opinion and when I did, I discovered I may have been wrong.

The rich got rich by ripping off the poor and middle class folks, with products and services that we didn’t really want. In our nationwide effort to level outcomes, these bad, rich people need to pay their fare share towards education. It benefits them in the long run, anyhow. And the way we make that happen is to tax the wealth right out of them. Move, are you kidding? Where are they going to go? Mississippi? Come on, they’re not going to move out of their Beverly Hills and Malibu mansions.

The big problem is that the money could be used for either public or private schools. That amounts to the super-rich subsidizing the less-rich. Middle-class people will be forced to pull their kids out of the private pre-schools and put them into public schools. The money has to be restricted to public schools only.

There is a concern that passage of 82 will suck the resources out of K-12. Are you saying that K-12 teachers should not have a choice of teaching the grade level they want, to move to the pre-school level if they so choose?

Your arguments are specious, to say the least. You’re just not thinking of the kids.

Ms Lenning...

I think you should answer the questions under "invitation to candidates". Rather than ignore it, it might actually help you.

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/vcs/keaney/archives/2006/05/invitation_to_c.html

The floor is yours, as none of your opponents seem interested in answering questions either.

Tim

Prediction:
Prop 82
YES 53%
NO 47%
Jack O'Connell 70%

Socialistic proposition

Steal from the rich, and give to the poor. Robin Hood has been seen as a hero by most, but is that right?

Proposition 82 would be funded by a 1.7 percent tax on individual incomes above $400,000 and $800,000 for couples. That's a $2.1 billion increase in the personal income tax rate paid by top earners as of now. This proposition will tax higher-income families to pay for preschool for all, namely lower-income families who can't afford it.

Proposition 82 is ridiculously socialistic. Next we'll be imposing even more taxes on higher earners to give more financial aid to college students. And why stop there? Let's raise their taxes again to help lower-income families buy cars so they can drive over to the state offices to pick up their welfare checks and food stamps.

Vote no on 82.

- Kaylee Friedman, Simi Valley

And let's not forget that this proposition, like the rest of our public education system, makes no distinction between citizens and illegal immigrants. It is likely that illegal immigrants represent a very large component of the low-income people that would benefit the most from this taxpayer-funded giveaway. How many illegal immigrants can currently afford to put their children into private preschool? But now they can do it courtesy of our tax dollars.

But the education lobby doesn't care because it puts more money into their pockets, so giving away benefits to illegal immigrants is OK as long it it benefits them too.

Hi Tim, I noticed your selling your home! Good luck in the sale of your house and your move. I will miss this website. It enlightens me as well as entertains me everytime I log on!

good luck

Kathy

Kathy,

Thanks so much for your kind note. I know there are many readers out there who enjoy the blog and debate, and I hope there is a way to keep it going for them.

For me, my kids will be attending a brand new school in a fast growing community, and we are happy and excited.

Keep reading and sharing your thoughts about our kids and schools, and thanks so much again for reading.

Tim