California Insider

A Weblog by
Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

Back to California Insider home page

« Hospitals pull back from phone tax | | State unemployment rate climbs »

April 09, 2004

CTA drops tax increase measure

The California Teachers Assn. has dropped its efforts to amend Proposition 13 and raise taxes on commercial proprty with an initiative on the November ballot.

Here is the Bee's story on the matter.

And below is the text of a statement from CTA President Barbara Kerr and Rob Reiner, who was a co-sponsor of the measure:

“It is with regret that we announce today that we will discontinue our efforts to place a constitutional measure to substantially improve funding for K-12 and preschool education before California voters in November. Although it had collected more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot and enjoyed strong public opinion support, we feel that the new and complicated circumstances of the November ballot make it necessary to pull back this worthy initiative.

“Our decision is the result of a realistic assessment of the complicated nature of the November ballot. Since we began this initiative drive, nearly a dozen substantive initiatives have emerged, creating an extraordinarily more confusing November ballot. That makes our job, and even the most attentive voter’s job, much more difficult. The fact that the Improving Classroom Education Act is now one of five initiatives on the ballot that raises revenues for a dedicated purpose has made it even more challenging for voters to sort through the clutter.

“The complex nature and quantity of issues on the November ballot have also significantly raised the cost of running this initiative campaign effectively.

“When we began this initiative effort more than a year ago, the number one issue for voters of California was the desire to increase investments in public education. It still is today. Opponents of this measure may be content with tin cup budgets for California’s public schools and children, but parents, teachers and the majority of our fellow citizens are not.

“It is a scandal that California public schools continue to rank well below the national average in per-pupil funding. It is a scandal that public school funding has been cut by more than $4 billion over the past two years alone, resulting in larger class sizes, fewer textbooks and materials, and thousands of teacher layoffs. And it is a scandal that California ranks in the bottom half of the nation in providing preschool to our 3- and 4-year-olds.

“California teachers and Rob Reiner are committed to the goals of this initiative and will continue to fight for the children of California. We believe that great rewards will come to California’s children, families, communities and economy if we make better investments in public education.

“In the coming weeks and months, budget decisions critical to kids’ futures will be made by our elected leaders in Sacramento. We will be watching these debates closely. We will insist that further budget reductions not be made at the expense of children, and that schools, including preschools, receive their fair share of any new revenue.

“We will continue our fight to make education a real priority in California’s political and budget processes. We will pursue this goal with all means available, and we do not exclude mounting another ballot initiative in the future.”