Education

 

In 2006 more education related initiatives appeared on ballots than any other issue. The unfunded federal mandates of "No Child Left Behind" were seen as fueling a movement, as nine states had ballot measures which sought to increase funding for education.

This year, six education initiatives and referenda that dealt with the administration of education funding were passed by voters - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, and New Mexico. Two controversial education policy initiatives that dealt with teacher pay and "English only" were defeated in Oregon.

Florida

Perhaps what was most notable in 2008 were the education initiatives that were kicked off the ballot in Florida where two controversial initiatives were kicked off the ballot by the Florida Supreme Court.

Florida's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, a group of political appointees, has the authority to put constitutional amendments directly on the ballot, and this year the commission offered several.

Two "stealth" amendments whose central purpose was to authorize state funding for vouchers to private religious schools were proposed for the ballot. Neither amendment contained the word "voucher" in them.

Amendment 7 would have repealed a 140-year-old state constitutional prohibition against spending public funds on religious institutions, known as the Blaine Amendment.

Amendment 9 sought to overturn a Florida Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional a private school voucher program approved while Jeb Bush was governor.

While the past voucher program that was struck down by the court provided taxpayer funding for low-income parents to send students to private schools, this amendment would have expanded the scope and given money to wealthy parents to send their children to private schools. In addition, state tax dollars could be used to pay parents who choose to home-school their children. Finally, the amendment would have allowed any religion or sect to start their own private school and receive taxpayer dollars to teach whatever they wanted.

The Florida Supreme Court rulings were unanimous and came only hours after justices heard arguments on lawsuits filed against the amendments. Several justices questioned whether the amendments were misleading to voters and whether the commission had exceeded its authority.

Commissioners had added to Amendment 9 a provision, "Requiring 65 % of school funding for classroom instruction." The inclusion of this provision, with potential political appeal, was practically meaningless and was meant to distract voters from the amendment's true intent- more taxpayer funding for private schools, not public schools.

The 2006 election season was disappointing for supporters of the 65% measures, having suffered defeats in Washington, Arizona, and Oregon where petition drives to qualify the measures were called off for lack of support and funding. Versions of the measures had been defeated in previous years legislatively in Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Opponents of Florida's 65% effort have labeled it the "65% Deception." The ruse of the 65% Deception is that more school funds will be directly targeted at teachers and classroom activities when in fact they won't. The provision doesn't define what "classroom instruction" means.  In the past the legislature determined that classroom instruction included football coaches, but not reading coaches or guidance counselors. The measure would cripple schools by eliminating funding for librarians, nurses, counselors, or the buses and bus drivers needed to get kids to school in the first place. It would prevent local schools from funding new school construction and leave thousands of public school students to be taught in crumbling buildings in need of repair. In addition, it would force schools to cut funding for security guards, metal detectors and other safety equipment, leaving children and teachers across Florida more vulnerable to acts of violence.

According to the U.S Department of Education, Florida schools already spend over 65% on classroom instruction; this amendment could have actually allowed some districts to reduce the amount of money spent on classroom instruction.

While increasing funding for classroom instruction is important, the language was included to distract voters from the true intent of this amendment, to legalize the use of taxpayer dollars to send children to private schools, draining hundreds of millions of dollars from public school classrooms.

In 2007 vouchers were defeated at the ballot box in Utah. Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock.com and his legislative allies pushed vouchers through the legislature, but before it could become law, public education advocates collected the signatures necessary to put it on the 2007 ballot and let the people of Utah have their say.

Even after Byrne and his family spent $3 million personally to override the citizen veto, Utah said "no" to vouchers in a big way on Election Day.

Oregon

In Oregon two education initiatives were defeated. Measure 60 would have mandated "merit pay" for teachers based on "classroom performance." It went down in defeat 60%-40%. In 2000, a similar ballot measure was rejected by 65% of voters. 

Measure 60 did not provide a clear definition of how classroom performance would be measured. While better teacher training, hiring, mentoring, and professional development are the proven methods of improving instruction, the jury is still out on whether changes in how teachers are paid improves student performance.

A broad coalition of teachers, parents, and school advocates from around the state raised their voices loud and clear on these measures, and voters agreed that decisions about children's education should be made by the people closest to the classroom.

The coalition, including Stand for Children and the Chalkboard Project, argued that the initiative does not provide the kind of support for staff collaboration, leadership training and career growth options that will lead to greater student success.

This initiative was once again pushed by Bill Sizemore, a long time ballot initiative activist who ran for governor in 1998 as a Republican and lost with only 30% of the vote.

In 2000, Sizemore was the subject of a racketeering lawsuit against two of his organizations: Oregon Taxpayer's United and the OTU Education Foundation. The jury found Sizemore's organizations guilty of racketeering, and the organizations were fined approximately $2.5 million. Sizemore refused to pay the fines and attempted to avoid the liability by changing the name of his organizations to Oregon Taxpayers Association and carrying on with business as usual. Without a trial, Sizemore was found personally liable for his organization's civil racketeering liability, and a judge shut down his education foundation. Nearly a million dollars were added to the fine as a result of Sizemore's resistance to earlier court orders/decisions.

Funding for the initiative effort came from Loren Parks. Parks, who spent more than $1.6 million on Oregon's 2006 election and in 2008, spent $2 million in support of the Sizemore and Kevin Mannix proposals and spent over $1.3 million on the collection of signatures to qualify them to the ballot. Parks, who lives in Nevada, is the top donor to political causes in Oregon history.

In the end an overwhelming majority of Oregonians were able to see Sizemore's vague measures for what they really are-poorly written, unpopular ideas that would have had negative consequences for Oregon classrooms.

Also on the ballot in Oregon was an "English Only" initiative, pushed by Sizemore, which was defeated by voters 54%-46%. The measure would have prohibited teaching public school students in a language other than English for more than two years. It would have also limited bilingual education, in which students are taught entirely in their non-English native language for all or part of the school day, to one to two years, after which students would be mainstreamed into regular English-language classes for all subjects regardless of their proficiency.

Opponents of the ballot measure, including Oregon teachers, said that it would have removed local control from school districts and individuals, preventing them from using the most appropriate method for each student.

"English Only" initiatives have passed in California (1998), Arizona (2000), and Massachusetts (2002) but faced defeat in Colorado in 2002. Ron Unz, a California millionaire who made his fortune on Wall Street, was the driving force behind the initiatives. Unz finished third in the 1994 GOP primary for Governor in California and is currently the publisher of The American Conservative.

Studies done on similar measures that passed, have raised doubts about how well English-only instruction works. The California ballot measure, approved by 61 percent of the state's voters, promised that immigrant children and others who don't speak English at home would assimilate much faster if all their classes were taught in English. But using test data, the five-year study found little difference between students who were taught in English-immersion classrooms and those enrolled in bilingual programs.

Other education related initiatives and referenda

Other initiatives and referenda that dealt with education funding and administration were largely successful this year.

Alabama voters passed a constitutional amendment 57%-43% that will reestablish the Education Trust Fund Rainy Day Account.

A constitutional amendment in Arkansas was passed by voter's 63%-37% that authorizes the General Assembly to fund scholarships and grants for public and private non-profit two year and four colleges and universities.

Amendment 2 in Georgia was passed 52%-48%. The measure will authorize local school districts to use tax funds for community redevelopment and infrastructure purposes.

Maryland voters approved Question 2, 59%-41%, a legislative referenda backed by the Governor that expanded gaming for the purpose of raising revenue for PK-12 education, public school construction and improvements, and construction of capital projects at community colleges and higher education institutions.

In Missouri, voters approved Proposition A, 56%-44%, an initiative that expands gaming provisions and creates a new specific education fund from gambling tax proceeds generated as a result of this measure called the "Schools First Elementary and Secondary Education Improvement Fund."

A bond measure in New Mexico was also successful. Voters approved 58%-42%, Bond Question D, the 2008 Capital Projects General Obligation Bond Act, which authorizes the issuance and sale of higher educational and special schools capital improvement and acquisition bonds.

Two proactive education related initiatives didn't fare as well. In Colorado, Amendment 59, SAFE (Saving Account for Education) was defeated 55%-45%. The measure would have created a savings account for public education. It sought to dedicate a permanent source of funding for education and preserves the right of citizens to vote on taxes and the constitutional requirement to balance the budget. The savings account for schools would have been filled when economic times are good and spent when times are bad.

In Florida, Amendment 8 was defeated 56%-44%. The amendment to the State Constitution sought to require that the Legislature authorize counties to levy a local option sales tax to supplement community college funding; requiring voter approval to levy the tax; providing that approved taxes will sunset after 5 years and may be reauthorized by the voters.