Commentary
Millions of California schoolchildren will remain in the state’s failing government schools. That’s because the California School Choice Initiative flunked its bid to gain enough signatures by the April 11 deadline to make it onto the November ballot. Only about 20 percent of the nearly 1 million required signatures were gathered.
It would have provided $14,000 for each student to go to a public, charter, private, parochial, or home school, as chosen by parents.
“Putting a comprehensive education savings account measure on the ballot would have exceeded all other school choice programs in the nation and could have revolutionized education in California,” Lance Christensen told me; he’s vice president of education policy and government affairs at the California Policy Center, the major force behind the initiative. “Unfortunately, the effort to get ESAs on the ballot failed because there just wasn’t enough money to make it happen despite the best intentions and grassroots volunteer efforts.”
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