Props. 38 and 39: Extreme or Needed?

As a teacher in a public high school as well as an education columnist for L.A. Parent magazine, I am outraged at the presence of Prop. 38 on the November ballot.

Prop. 38 is the most extreme and expensive educational proposal in California history. It would hurt local public schools by siphoning away their funding. It would create a system of unregulated voucher schools that are not accountable to the taxpayers supporting them with billions of dollars. Prominent educational researchers have called Prop. 38 “tax relief for the well-off.”

It is a false promise to parents, because voucher schools will decide whose children are accepted--not parents.

JUDY MOLLAND

Encino

* Regarding Prop. 38: I am for it. I do believe kids should get vouchers to go to private schools.

I am a student at an L.A. Unified school, and some kids are not learning as well as they should. I used to go to a private school. It was much better. It was cleaner and the teachers gave students more attention. Some L.A. Unified schools have way bigger classes than private schools.

The real reason why some teachers believe you should keep kids in public schools is because they want more money for themselves. The more kids they obtain, the more money they obtain.

JENNIFER TIBBS

Inglewood

* If we expect our children to move from classrooms to our new technological world, we should concentrate on providing classrooms with the fundamental tools California’s students will need so they are not left behind when they join our workforce. It is vital for California’s children to begin by having a healthy learning environment and the necessary educational tools to keep pace with our new technological society. Proposition 39 is the first step to keeping California’s economy moving forward.

For these reasons, the business community and the high-tech community support Proposition 39 in California and are becoming active in reforming California’s education landscape.

TODD LINDGREN

Director, Govt. Affairs

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce