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Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

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April 14, 2006

Burton: No on 82

Liberal icon and former Senate Leader John Burton has come out against Prop. 82, the preschool initiative. And he does so more forcefully, and more convincingly, than Gov. Schwarzenegger, who said through a spokeswoman that he opposes the measure because he's against raising taxes. Here's Burton's statement:

Without any income tests the plan would help wealthy and middle class families who already take advantage of preschool, but not reach those who need it most: poor, disadvantaged and English learning children;

K-12 faces a shortage of qualified teachers. Prop. 82 offers more competition that could keep teachers out of classrooms;

The initiative would pay more per pupil for a few hours of preschool than many K-12 schools get for a whole day;

Prop. 82 ties up a resource stream that should go to the general fund for a variety of important state programs.

Proposition 82 makes it easier for my grandkids to get preschool. That's great, but they're not the ones who need the help. Even those of us who have a high regard for preschool need to vote no on Prop. 82.

Interestingly, Burton is meeting with reporters to announce his opposition at the headquarters of the California School Employees Association, the union that represents support employees in the public schools.