Net Loss.

The School Voucher Initiative Could Take Huge Toll on Public Education

THE moment Silicon businessman Tim Draper dumped his school voucher initiative on the California ballot, many black leaders, educators and labor officials hammered him mercilessly. They called it yet another scheme by conservatives to gut public education.

Draper and school vouchers are great targets for their attack. He is rich. He was appointed to the state Board of Education by former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. And he purportedly has stated that public education is rotten and should be best left in private hands.

Then there's the issue of school vouchers itself. Conservatives have traditionally been their loudest advocates. But Proposition 38 is so wildly out of step with the standard voucher plans that conservatives have fought for, it could turn into a political and fiscal nightmare for them.

The two best examples are the Florida school voucher program pushed by Gov. Jeb Bush and the proposed plan by Jeb's big brother, George. Florida' s failing schools are given two years to clean up their act. If they don't, students in those schools are eligible for state-funded vouchers. The overwhelming majority of them are low-income, minority students.

George's proposal gives schools three years to bring test scores up to the national average. If they don't, the state would shell out $1,500 to parents for private school tuition, tutoring or after-school enrichment programs. The program is limited to students in failed schools.

Neither program would result in a massive hit on federal and state budgets, establish new federal or state agencies to administer the voucher program, or impose restrictions on private or religious education, Conservatives recoil at these dangers.

But the Draper initiative, which gives any parent who wants to place their child in private school $4,000, poses those very dangers.

The state's legislative analysts estimate that in the first year the initiative would cost $3 billion more than the current state budget for education. Proposition 38 backers counter that as more students shift to private schools, it will save taxpayers millions. There's no guarantee this will happen.

Milwaukee has the oldest state-mandated school voucher program in the country, yet only about 15 percent of eligible students use vouchers. Even if more wanted them, private schools there can't provide the needed space. The same would be true in California.

The state controller would be required to track attendance at voucher schools and make the payments to the schools. Taxpayers would have to pay for the added costs and the bureaucracy.

Proposition 38 would wipe away the Proposition 98 requirement which guarantees a cut of the state budget for community colleges, police, fire and health services. Also, the federal government currently plows almost $4 billion into California schools based on the number of students enrolled in public schools to bankroll a variety of public school programs. That money would go down the drain.

This means either one of two things: a big cut in safety, health and education services or a major tax increase to make up the budget shortfall. The bet is that local and state government will probably do both. This is exactly what they did after Proposition 13 slashed property taxes. Local and state governments concocted ingenious ways to hike taxes and user fees.

Private schools have the right to pick and choose the students they want. There is nothing to bar the state from eventually requiring that private schools that receive vouchers adhere to all state non-discrimination standards on gender and religious lion instruction. This is why many religious school officials fear that if taxpayers are compelled to pay for religious instruction they don't agree with, it could spark a backlash that would force the state to impose restrictions on religious instruction.

Also, under Proposition 38, schools would have to administer a standardized national test and record individual scores of voucher students.

While Proposition 38 would do much damage to public education, it doesn't mean that a voucher program is totally worthless. A voucher program might work with these provisions:

* Students with learning disabilites who require specialized instruction unavailable in public schools must be eligible.

* Private schools that receive vouchers must conform to state professional codes for teacher and administrator training, credentials and evaluation.

* No gender, racial or religious discrimination should be tolerated in eligible schools.

* Students in schools that consistently fail to meet minimum state performance standards must be eligible.

* Funds for vouchers must only come from private or public supplemental funding sources and not from the state's general education budget.

* Tight income standards must be established and maintained to guarantee that only truly needy students receive them.

The Draper school voucher plan fits none of these provisions. And given the potential risk of tax hikes, more bureaucracy, and more government controls over private education, conservatives should be wary of it.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a radio commentator and the author of "The Crisis in Black and White."