As mentioned in the original issue of Policy Briefs on Charter Schools, California's general election ballot in November 1993 included a referendum (Proposition 174) that would have allowed parents to use vouchers to pay for private schooling. This referendum was viewed by many as a threat to the future of California's Charter Schools. In California, as in Oregon and Colorado, the voucher referendum was defeated by a margin of at least two to one. Colorado voucher proponents have begun a new campaign on the issue, hoping to put it on the ballot in 1994. Why the referendum in California - which was very popular when first proposed - was so strongly defeated is being discussed widely. If nothing else, it is obvious that if such referendums are to pass, they must appeal to middle-of-the-road as well as conservative voters.
California has 45 Charter Schools. The state does not offer start-up monies to get the schools going, so progress in numbers has been slow compared to states where start-up monies are available, such as Massachusetts.
Today, people are looking to Arizona, where the voucher issue is very alive if not altogether well. Both Charter Schools and a pilot voucher program are included in education reform bills. House Bill (HB) 2585 includes the voucher program; Charter Schools are included in both HB 2585 and Senate Bill (SB) 1375. Both bills have been discussed by the education committees in their respective houses and referred to the appropriations committees. SB 1375 has tied significantly more monies to the Charter School proposal alone. Both bills have created a stand- off. The most contentious disagreements have been over the voucher issue, which has brought to the surface "wars" not necessarily related to vouchers. Both the Governor and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate support vouchers and Charter Schools as an essential part of their education reform package. Vouchers, however, have not turned out to be a partisan issue; there is some support for vouchers on both sides. Democrats had expected a division along party lines, but it did not occur. It appears that Arizona will see a long struggle to decide these issues.
Posted on March 3, 1995
URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/94-2caaz.htm