November 15, 2007

Teachers vs. teachers ballot showdown

Updated at 5:53 p.m.

The community college measure on the Feb. 5 ballot is shaping up to be a battle royale between California's biggest teachers' unions.

On one side is the California Federation of Teachers, the state's second largest teachers' union. It has been the biggest financial backer of the campaign for Proposition 92, which would lower community college fees and set aside a percentage of the state budget for the two-year schools.

On the other is the California Teachers Association, the largest teachers' group in the state, which so far has been the sole funder of the opposition campaign - to the tune of nearly $300,000.

"We're used to being on the same side of issues," lamented Marty Hittelman, president of the federation of teachers backing the measure.

"I can't say that it never happened, but I don't remember any measure where it has," said Sandra Jackson, communications director for the teachers association opposing it.

Proposition 92 would lower community college fees to $15 per unit, from the current $20. More controversially for the CTA, the measure would tinker with the funding formula in Proposition 98, the 1988 ballot measure that locked in K-12 education's portion of the state General Fund at roughly 40 percent. It is considered sacrosanct by the education community, particularly the teachers association.

Opponents fear that by locking in community college funding, money could be siphoned away from the K-12 schools, where most CTA teachers work.

David Sanchez, president of the CTA, co-signed the lead ballot argument against the measure. "Nowhere in the measure does it identify a way to pay for all the new spending....They could cut education funding, including K-12 schools," he wrote.

But Hittelman said that argument "doesn't hold up...It goes back more to Proposition 98 was their invention and they don't like to see it messed with," said Hittelman. "I think the rationales (for opposing the measure) that are being given don't make much sense."

Union membership rolls are likely also playing a part in the split. Hittelman estimated that teachers in the community college system comprise about 30 percent of CFT members. They make up only 2 percent of CTA teachers.

"We have more concern for community colleges than they might," Hittelman said.

Jackson said the CTA "supports more funds for community colleges," just not the way Proposition 92 does it.

Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California and a backer of the measure, said theoretical support of community colleges isn't helping students.

"Everybody loves community colleges right now. I've never heard so many people say community colleges need more money," Lay said. "We've tried for 20 years to play the game in Sacramento, and what it has meant is fewer Californians being able to go to college."

The intra-teacher squabble doesn't bode well for the fate of the initiative, said education consultant Kevin Gordon, who is unaffiliated with the campaign.

"I think that the lack of support from the CTA and/or their activism against it, combined with the really horrible budget outlook, is going to be enough to sink that ballot measure," Gordon said.

Legislative analysts have pegged the cost of the measure to the state at roughly $300 million per year for the first three years.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, announced his opposition on Thursday, saying Proposition 92 "will make California's bad budget problems worse."

The deep-pocketed teachers association, which spent tens of millions of dollars in 2005 sinking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election agenda, has put in $290,000 opposing the measure - an amount Gordon called "chicken feed" for the union.

"I am sure they will spend whatever it takes to make sure it's defeated," he said.

Jackson declined to comment on potential future spending by the association.

At least one major local CTA affiliate, the 45,000-strong United Teachers Los Angeles, has bucked the state organization and endorsed Proposition 92.

Other education groups are split on the initiative as well, most often with groups protecting their educational turf.

The California Faculty Association, which represents teachers at the California State University system, is actively opposing the measure, while the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges is supporting the measure.

Community colleges' partners in California's public higher education system - the CSU Board of Trustees and the University of California Regents - both voted this week to oppose the measure. Each cited the potential loss of state funding for their system.

"The CSU is worried that the passage of the proposition could mean leaner times by shrinking the pool of discretionary money available for higher education from Sacramento, which of course would impact CSU," said spokesman Paul Browning.

"There's a sincere debate about the future of higher education," said Lay, the community college advocate. "We are trying to have a system that will be accessible and affordable and the other universities have a different agenda, talking about their fee increases and executive pay this week...We believe we are going the direction the people want."

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on November 15, 2007 9:00 AM