46% Oppose School Voucher Measure, Field Poll Finds

Less than three months before the November special election, the Field Poll has found a plurality of California voters opposed to a ballot measure that would offer parents tax-supported vouchers to pay for private and parochial school tuition.

The poll also found voters split on a measure to extend a half-cent sales tax increase with the proceeds to go to local governments.

According to the poll, 46% of registered voters surveyed are prepared to vote against the voucher initiative, 36% plan to support it and 18% are undecided.

The referendum, Proposition 174, would change the way the state funds education by providing parents with vouchers, worth about $2,600 per child, to be redeemed at any public, private or parochial school.

Proponents of the measure say it would extend school choice to even the poorest parents and spur public schools to improve through competition. Opponents say it would devastate the state’s public school systems and force taxpayers to subsidize inferior and unregulated private schools.

“The poll results show this is clearly a hot-button type of issue with voters,” said Mark DiCamillo of the Field Institute. “What separates this initiative from most propositions is, even this early on, voters come to this with a lot of emotion and a fairly clear understanding of the issues.”

The Field Poll is the first statewide assessment of voter attitudes toward the measure since Gov. Pete Wilson acted to put it before voters in November--seven months ahead of schedule--by calling a special election.

Wilson said he called the election so voters could decide on the sales tax measure.

The survey found voters split on that and another tax-related measure on the ballot. Proposition 172, which would make a temporary half-cent increase in sales tax permanent, was opposed by 44% and favored by 42% of the voters. Proposition 170, which would reduce the required number of votes from two-thirds to a simple majority to approve general obligation bonds, was opposed by 48% of those polled.

But fewer than one in five surveyed said they knew much about either of those initiatives, while 44% of those polled said they had already heard of Proposition 174.

“Most propositions start out with a low level of awareness . . . but voters are coming to this voucher issue with clear predispositions that have probably been building up over the past couple of years,” DiCamillo said.

When asked to offer reasons for their opinions, the most frequent objections expressed by those likely to vote against the measure were that it would hurt public schools by taking money away from them, and that the state should not use tax money to fund private schools.