The California Budget Project estimates that Proposition 38 could significantly increase state costs for K-12 education. No private school would be required to accept voucher students, and it is uncertain whether Proposition 38 would provide a sufficient incentive for expansion of private schools' capacity. Proposition 38 would require huge new bureaucracies to track the voucher payments and to collect data on education spending in all 50 states. Voucher schools would receive public funds but would be allowed to reject children for a multitude of reasons including academic or physical impairment, gender, religion, language, or ability to pay. Proposition 38 supporters have stated that Proposition 38 will help public schools by creating competition.
True competition requires a level playing field.
Proposition 38 does nothing to help level the field. Proposition 38 creates a complicated new funding mechanism for public schools. At the same time, it allows private schools to discriminate against students for a variety of reasons including academic or physical ability or a parents ability to pay. True competition requires that all of the players are given an equal chance. If a child from a household that cannot afford to pay can be excluded from the game, there is no competition.