Vote no on 74, 75, 76

Voting no on Propositions 74, 75 and 76 will guarantee that your voice as a citizen of California will be heard. Prop. 76 is an all-out assault on the funding for public education. The governor wants the cost of education cut. We are almost last in the nation on what we spend to educate our children. Prop. 76 will insure we hit rock bottom.

Prop. 74 and 75 are thinlyveiled attempts to muzzle the public employee associations. Prop. 74 is not about insuring good teachers. It’s about intimidation. Right now, any teacher can be fired but not without due process. Tenure guarantees an administrator must document the problem and the teacher is given an opportunity to improve. If a second unsatisfactory evaluation is given to a teacher, the district can pursue termination of the employee. Teachers in this situation have chosen to resign before being fired, so the data on this is misleading. No teacher has a jobfor-life without accountability. Teachers are observed and evaluated by site administrators on a regular basis.

Teachers lobby for smaller class sizes, healthy classroom environments, sufficient supplies of textbooks, things that make it better for your children in the classroom.

Why would the governor want to make those voices go away? Because what teachers want does cost money, money to be spent on kids, not going into someone’s pocket.

What do nurses lobby for? Smaller case loads, healthier working conditions, better allocation of funds, things that insure better health care for you.

What do firemen and police officers lobby for? More jobs to increase their numbers, better equipment and more specialized training so they can do a better job of keeping you safe.

Please ask yourself, who has dedicate their careers working to keep you safe, healthy and welleducation: your public employees or Arnold Schwarzenegger and the special interest groups who fund his ad campaigns.

For more information about these propositions, please call (818) 889-4377. Sandra Pope Co-president, Las Virgenes Education Association

For over a year, the education community enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Gov. Schwarzenegger. We quickly came to an agreement with him last year to allow him to use $2 billion, guaranteed for education under Proposition 98, for other areas of the budget due to the state’s fiscal crises.

Then in January, without warning, he turned on teachers, nurses, firemen and police and attempted to demonize us by calling us “special interests.” He broke his word on paying back the money he owed education and even lied about ever having made such a promise.

He had said just last year that Prop. 98, which guarantees education at least 39 percent of the state budget, would be overturned over “his dead body.” He now advocates exactly that, overturning Prop. 98. His attempts to “reform” the state have consisted of attacking teachers, undercutting education’s constitutionally guaranteed funding, making an unprecedented power grab in Sacramento and attempting to curtail educators’ ability to advocate for teachers and education at the state level.

Please join with the educators of Las Virgenes and vote no on Prop. 74, 75 and 76. Paul J. Markowitz Co-president, Las Virgenes Educators Association