The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Meeting kicks off the 'No on 95-5' campaign

By Steve Enders

Political strategists met with South Bay school administrators Thursday evening in Cupertino to kick off a campaign to prevent the passing of Prop. 223--the "Educational Efficiency Initiative."

About 35 people attended the event, held in a conference room at Apple Computer's Cupertino headquarters. It was organized by Sunnyvale Elementary School District board member Ray Kiddy, who also works at Apple.

Kiddy said that Apple Computer is not taking a stance on Prop. 223. He said, however, that the company cares about education and the community and encourages such forums in its conference rooms.

So far, both the Cupertino Union School District and the SESD have passed resolutions condemning Prop. 223, because they both believe they don't have the room to make the cuts necessary to comply with it. The Fremont Union High School District has not passed a resolution against the initiative, but officials say they are against it.

Bonnie Mertus, from the Sacramento consulting firm Wayne Johnson and Associates, is directing the statewide "No on 223" campaign. She said that with six weeks left before the June primary, administrators and campaigners need to create a message that will stick with voters.

"We can defeat this," Mertus said. "Of all the initiatives, this one is the closest to being defeated. If you tell people that it takes money away from your schools, they won't like it."

According to Mertus, recent Los Angeles Times polls show that about 20 percent are still undecided or haven't heard of Prop. 223. She also said about 49 percent are in favor, and about 30 percent are against it. Those numbers, she said, have begun to change rapidly in favor of those against the initiative.

The initiative, also dubbed "95-5," mandates that 95 percent of all school district expenditures be spent on school programs that have direct involvement with students and that no more than 5 percent be spent on administrative costs.

The initiative's opponents say smaller school districts will have a harder time meeting the ratio than larger school districts.

The initiative also mandates penalties for those school districts that cannot comply with the ratio. In most cases, districts could be fined up to $200 per student each year if they don't comply. School districts that meet the 95-5 ratio will get the funds gathered from fines.

Opponents say it will be much easier for the Los Angeles Unified School District to comply with the initiative than small- to medium-sized districts because the large districts have economies of scale working in their favor. Therefore, fines from districts not in compliance will be siphoned south to L.A. Unified, critics say.

The districts in Cupertino and Sunnyvale currently spend 6 to 8 percent of their annual budgets on administrative costs. Throughout the state, districts spend an average of about 7 percent.

If cuts need to be made to get down to 5 percent, district officials maintain, administrative duties will need to be shifted to schools, meaning that principals will have to pick up many duties that are currently handled in district offices.

Dave Low, a representative of the California State Educators Association, said that their campaign is "at the precipice of turning this around 180 degrees."

"The message is clear that it robs small- and medium-sized school districts," said Low, a former Fremont High School student.

Larry Aceves, superintendent of the Franklin-McKinley School District in Santa Clara, said that 95-5 reminds him of Prop. 13.

Aceves said, "People thought that Prop. 13 would just go away and that it wouldn't affect them, but it did. I think this is just as bad, if not worse [than Prop. 13].

"If I'm a fourth-grade teacher, I don't have $6,000 to cut from my class. Where's that going to come from?" he asked of the potential for fines.

The initiative is opposed by nearly every education organization in the state, including the California PTA, the state School Employees Association, the California School Board Association and the Association of California School Administrators. A number of school districts and politicians have also added their names to a growing list of those in opposition.

Prop. 223 was written by Tyrone Vahedi, the head of Children's Rights 2000, a Los Angeles advocacy group. Critics of the initiative also quip that teachers in the L.A. Unified district are behind the drafting of the initiative.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 29, 1998.
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