ONE UNION'S WAR AGAINST CHOICE
What Ruiz is referring to are recent poll results showing Proposition 174 trailing statewide by six points and running no better than even in Republican strongholds like Orange County. Frankly, crows Ruiz, "this initiative is in serious trouble."So much so in fact, says CTA Assistant Executive Director Ned Hopkins, that the goal now isn't merely to defeat Proposition 714 ("it would only be back in a year or two") but to drive a stake through its heart –crush it two-to-one. "Then," says Hopkins, "this thing would go away and die for 15 or 20 years."
TO POLITICAL scientist Terry Moe, if the education establishment thinks that parental choice is going to go away, they're living in an ivory tower. It's not just Milton Friedman and a few libertarians out there anymore. "Now there is a genuine movement. And it's not just California. It's an expression of something happening around the world. Nations and states are moving away from old style command and control and moving toward free markets."
The education establishment might not know it yet, says Ken Khachigian, but the truth is "they have already lost the battle. The entire state is debating how good they are, debating the bureaucracy, talking about low test scores, violence in schools. They have done such a horrible job and disserved our students so badly that this [whole issue has become] a train heading down the tracks. And whether it gets there now or six years from now it is going to get there and when it does it will sweep the country. That's why they are so frantic."
CPR, Fall 1993
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Paul Coitti is an author and screenwriter living in Los Angeles.
