Countywide : 2 School Districts Fight Voucher Plan

Trustees of two county school districts have passed resolutions opposing a statewide initiative to reimburse parents for each child in private school.

Trustees of the Oxnard Elementary School District, which passed its resolution Thursday opposing school vouchers, said the system would siphon $1.5 billion a year from public schools.

The board of the Conejo Valley Unified School District adopted a similar resolution Thursday.

The Oxnard resolution urges members of the community not to sign the petitions that are being circulated by sponsors of the initiative.

Before the unanimous vote, Oxnard Supt. Norman R. Brekke predicted that every school district in the state will oppose the measure, which he said could reduce the quality of education available to most children.

“The potential exists in the voucher plan to create a two-tiered educational system,” Brekke said, “one for the advantaged, and one for the disadvantaged.”

Because private schooling typically costs $6,500 a year, Brekke said that the $2,500 voucher would be insufficient to allow poor families to participate.

According to the Conejo Valley resolution, the district feels the initiative “undermines” public education and “subsidizes California’s wealthiest families while stripping education opportunities from other Californians.”