Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called a special election for
this November. His program is supposedly so urgent it cannot wait
until the regular elections in 2006. And what pressing agenda must
be taken to voters at a cost of $80 million to taxpayers?
First, the governor wants teachers to wait longer before they
can have employee rights. His Put the Kids First Act would require
California teachers to serve five years in probation status,
instead of the current two.
According to the governor, the longer probation is needed
because the present system makes it too hard to get rid of bad
teachers. His campaign literature seems quite dishonest here,
claiming public school teachers are “virtually guaranteed a
job for life” after two years on the job, “regardless
of their performance.”
In fact, the state education code is very clear that problematic
teachers ““ including those with permanent, or
“tenured,” status ““ may be dismissed for
unsatisfactory performance, unprofessional conduct, unfitness for
service and so on. While permanent teachers have the legal
guarantee of due process, probationary teachers have fewer such
rights.
The governor’s initiative is not really about allowing
schools to get rid of bad teachers ““ they can already do
this. Rather, it is about reducing the union strength of public
school teachers. The initiative would weaken job security and
increase teacher turnover.
A less stable teacher workforce will mean less union
participation, less political activism and especially less
resistance to the governor’s public education cutbacks.
Ironically, a measure that purports to help public education
will do much to hurt it and will make it harder than it already is
to recruit and retain new teachers.
For those who wish to give Schwarzenegger the benefit of the
doubt ““ say he really thinks a five-year teacher probation
would help education ““ a look at another of his initiatives
should reveal his true intentions.
The California Live Within Our Means Act allows the state to
suspend Proposition 98’s minimum-funding guarantee for
schools. The measure caps all state spending to the prior
year’s level unless spending growth is paid for by revenue
growth. It also gives the governor the right to declare a
“fiscal emergency” under certain conditions, during
which he could make budget cuts at his discretion.
This measure is in keeping with the wider conservative agenda to
reduce funding and privatize public education and public services,
while the governor’s initiative weakening teacher job
security would make it harder to resist the conservative
agenda.
The governor’s third measure, the Voter Empowerment Act,
would introduce state-wide reapportionment of California’s
federal and state legislative districts.
This reapportionment would be overseen by a panel of retired
judges. Although the panel is supposed to be non-partisan, the
governor’s apparent aim is to promote new district lines that
are more favorable to Republican interests.
A group of retired judges is a relatively elite group that would
likely support a Republican program. In any case, even a split
panel would improve the Republican position over their position
today, given their minority status in the state legislature.
A fourth measure would require California’s public
employee unions to get annual written permission from union members
to spend money on political campaigns.
Under the guise of upholding the rights of union members, the
measure was authored by Lewis Uhler, president of the National Tax
Limitation Committee and a prominent figure in conservative circles
that are not known for their support of unions or union
members.
The real purpose of the measure is straightforward: to weaken
the political voice of teachers and other unionized workers and
strengthen the voice of conservative and big business
interests.
I hope UCLA students, faculty and staff will join me in
protecting public education, and indeed protecting democracy in our
state, by opposing these measures.
Ryan is a field representative for the UCLA chapter of the
UC-American Federation of Teachers, which represents university
lecturers and librarians.