"I'm so thankful that the public understood the propositions well enough to be able to vote the right way," Campbell Elementary Teachers Association president Lorena Anaya said. "These initiatives would have had a negative impact on public education."

As the election approached, Campbell elementary and middle school teachers worked feverishly to spread their message by phone. They walked precincts for a month and carried signs in front of Westgate Shopping Center's busy intersection--Hamilton and Saratoga avenues--the evening before the election.

Proposition 74 would have increased the probationary period for public school teachers from two to five years. Within that five-year period, teachers could have been dismissed with two consecutive unsatisfactory evaluations.

For the teachers, Anaya says, the passage of Prop. 74 would have meant a shift in their due process rights. Approval could have also weakened union efforts, as teachers without permanent status would have less of a voice.

"It would've kept teachers from being active in the union because they would have feared being let go," Anaya said.

Proposition 75, which dealt specifically with unions, prohibited the use of public employee union dues for political contributions. This, too, went down to defeat.

Teachers already have the option to specify their dues not be used for political reasons, Anaya said. The proposition would have made the process more bureaucratic, she said.

Proposition 76 would have cut school funding by $4 billion statewide and overturned voter-approved school funding guarantees. In short, Anaya said, it would have created "chaos" for school districts.

All the lobbying against the propositions paid off, and "it was worth it," Anaya said. "But we're very tired."

The Campbell High School Teachers Association also staffed phone banks and walked precincts. Its members also distributed information at the Campbell Farmers Market. Campbell High School Teachers Association president Rachelle Burnside said the election was another example of how politicians are trying to undermine education.

"You have to battle every day to be a teacher," Burnside said.