CTA and children's advocate Rob Reiner have formed a partnership to place a historic education initiative on the November 2004 ballot. The measure will generate substantial resources for California's underfunded public schools and, for the first time, provide statewide access to voluntary universal preschool.
The initiative was filed with the secretary of state's office in early November after receiving the unanimous support of CTA's State Council of Education in October. In a major mobilizing effort, CTA members will be helping to secure the 598,105 valid signatures needed
by summer to place the initiative on the ballot in time for the presidential election.
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CTA President Barbara E. Kerr and children's advocate Rob Reiner announce the joint venture at a news conference
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"The most effective ways to improve education include sending kids to schools with small class sizes, having well-trained teachers in the classroom, and providing universal access to preschool," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "This initiative will provide resources where they are needed most - in the classroom."
New K-12 funding can only be spent on reducing class sizes, purchasing up-to-date textbooks and materials, and improving teachers' training and salaries.
The initiative requires strict accountability for how the funds are spent. None of the money can be used for administrative overhead, and the initiative requires an annual audit of how the money is used. It also provides criminal penalties and loss of credentials for those who misuse the new funds.
Teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and fewer textbooks are the legacy of more than $4 billion in California public education funding cuts over the past two years. California ranks 30th in per-pupil funding, is still about $600 below the national average, and has been below the national average for more than a decade. The state ranks 49th in the number of students per teacher.
The initiative, which increases the tax rate on commercial property from 1 percent to 1.55 percent, will raise more than $3 billion annually for K-12 schools and $1.5 billion for preschools. It does not raise residential property tax rates or taxes for California homeowners. It excludes agricultural property, timberland and government property.
The measure provides significant personal property tax relief for small businesses.
The CTA partnership with acclaimed director and producer Reiner is a natural one.
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CTA President Barbara E. Kerr and children's advocate Rob Reiner appear together at CTA's State Council of Education
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"We both believe that providing a quality education for all children is the most important investment we can make for the future of California," says Reiner.
The initiative proposal is making headlines already. When Reiner and Kerr unveiled the campaign at an Oct. 29 news conference at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland, three radio stations, five newspapers and five television stations turned out.
Kerr says CTA is now working on building a broad coalition of supporters who believe that California must make children and classrooms the priority in school funding.
Reiner directed such hits as When Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me and The Princess Bride, and acted in the successful television series, "All in the Family." His long career as a children's advocate includes chairing the successful campaign to pass the California Children and Families Initiative (Proposition 10) in 1998 to improve early childhood programs in the state.
The new initiative will help improve student learning in kindergarten through 12th grade and provide voluntary preschool to all California children the year before they start kindergarten.
Among the campaign's key points about early childhood education:
- Research clearly shows that children who attend quality preschools will do better in reading and math for the remainder of their school years.
- California ranks in the bottom half of the nation in providing preschool to our 3- and 4-year-olds. Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama all rank above California.
"Children who go to quality preschools do better in reading and math, are more likely to graduate from high school and go on to college, and are less likely to become a crime statistic," says Reiner.
Preschools funded under this measure may be operated by school districts or combinations of school districts and county offices of education. Preschool employees must be employed by public school districts or county offices of education, and districts will have a five-year transition period to implement the requirements of the program.
With California's education funding levels so inadequate, the urgent need for the initiative and its new funds is painfully obvious, says Kerr.
"We must invest more in our children's education. Providing a quality education for our children is the most important thing we can do for their future and the future of our state."
Mike Myslinski
