It further argues that there are few families in failing districts attending private programs, as these districts are generally low income. In any case, DCI severely limits the ability of the opposition to cast the initiative as expensive. Indeed, it should be argued that parental choice programs are cheaper than pouring money into failing government schools to make them competitive. Refines School Reform's Underdog Status in the Election Proposition 174 was outspent 9 to 1 as the union political machine swung into high gear. No doubt the same will be true in any school choice campaign.
Voters often assume the side with the most campaign money is right.
But instead of voters watching the noble NEA smack a movement led by rich bankers or Silicon Valley businessmen, DCI will let voters see a bloated bureaucracy pitted against inner-city single moms and Baptist preachers asking only for the right to vote on the issue. Many California voters in 1993 saw Proposition 174 as re-opening the door to the school integration fights many of them had just fled. Prop 174 had students from every district crossing district lines, introducing the possibility of lawsuits regarding racial disparities in the better districts. With DCI, voucher students could, of course, attend private schools outside their district. However, the private school market would undoubtedly respond to a school choice election by expanding capacity within that district.