Countywide : Coalition to Fight Voucher Initiative

A coalition of parents, community leaders and educators from Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster has formed the West Orange County Local Organization Committee to Educate Against the Voucher.

The organization is planning to launch a campaign on Sept. 1 to defeat Proposition 174, the Education Vouchers Initiative constitutional amendment, in the November election.

The group will form a speakers’ bureau, staff a telephone bank and walk precincts as election time nears.

Voucher supporters say the measure will improve the quality of education and empower parents to send their children to schools that best meet the needs of their youngsters.

Under the measure, the state would offer vouchers of about $2,600 to parents of children if they send their children to private schools.

Bonnie Bruce, a trustee of the Huntington Beach Union High School District and leader of the committee, claims that the initiative will be an economic disaster for neighborhood schools because they would lose state aid for students leaving for voucher schools.

Speakers for her organization are expected to attack the financial ramifications of the initiative as well as an alleged lack of accountability of the voucher schools, Bruce said.

She claimed that the basic requirement for a school under the measure is that it have 25 students. There is no standards for teachers, she said.

“The coalition strongly opposes taxpayer funding of schools that are allowed to reject students they don’t want just because they don’t meet certain religious, gender, income, IQ or physical or mental abilities,” she said.

Bruce said anyone interested in joining the coalition can call (714) 968-7287 in Huntington Beach, (714) 841-0218 in Fountain Valley or (714) 893-0354 in Westminster.