When venture capitalist multimillionaire Tim Draper decided California's K-12 public schools needed a dose of privatization and free market competition, he wrote the voucher plan that become Proposition 38. Nevermind that virtually every private school in California costs two or three times this amount, and nevermind that this money could be used to repay wealthy families whose children already attend private schools. Proposition 38 includes nothing for school construction, but it allows anyone to open a private school and collect tax dollars. There are few standards prescribed for private schools to receive these tax dollars. And if this isn't enough to curl the hair on your taxpaying head, the collateral damage of this war on public education is your local community college.
Community colleges are truly part of the fabric of the American dream.
While our K-12 system is admittedly not often viewed as one of our state's best assets, it is no solution to drain this system of resources, especially when that redirection of funds from public to private would also drain our community colleges. Both systems are protected in the annual state budget battle through Proposition 98, passed by voters to ensure adequate funding for K-14 education. If vouchers become law, then the community colleges will lose resources badly needed for the 1.5-million college students served by our 107 community colleges. There are indeed many legitimate complaints about many of our K-12 schools. No doubt our K-12 schools need some major changes.