NEWBURY PARK : Financial Analysis of Vouchers Offered

Citizens Against Government Waste will present a financial analysis of the effects of the voucher initiative on Thousand Oaks schools at a public meeting Wednesday night at the Newbury Park Library.

Sarah Hart, assistant superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified School District, will be the featured speaker to discuss the controversial November ballot initiative to amend the state constitution.

If Proposition 174 is approved, it would allow parents with children in private schools to collect a $2,600 voucher from the state for tuition. Supporters say the competition would force public schools to improve.

Opponents of the initiative say it would destroy public education by draining the state’s education fund while leaving only the hardest-to-educate students for public schools to teach.

Thousand Oaks school officials have estimated that the district would lose as much as $7.5 million from its annual $75 million budget, even if none of its students transferred to private schools.

That money would go to fund students already enrolled in private schools, officials say. If an estimated 4% of public school students shifted to private schools, Conejo Valley schools would lose about $10 million, officials said.

The nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste acts as a local watchdog on government spending practices, said Chairman Don Stevens.

The meeting on Wednesday will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the library, at 2331 Borchard Road in Newbury Park.