Posted on 10/06/2005 1:35:57 PM PDT by calcowgirl
SACRAMENTO - Television commercials released this week by the California Teachers Association ask voters to reject Proposition 74, the teacher tenure initiative promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Proposition 74 would increase the probationary period for new teachers from two years to five. It also would change the way districts can remove veteran teachers. Those with permanent status could be fired after two consecutive poor evaluations.
Schwarzenegger has said he wants to shake up a system that he says grants teachers a virtual job for life once they pass the two-year probationary period. Making it easier to get rid of poor teachers will improve the quality of education in California's public schools, he said.
Teachers say the process of acquiring a credential already is difficult enough and weeds out those who are not committed to their students. Increasing the probationary period and making it easier for administrators to remove veteran teachers will only make the profession less attractive at a time when the system is facing a high number of retirements, the union says.
The union's commercials say the initiative, if passed, would let principals fire a teacher "without giving a reason or even a hearing," a claim Schwarzenegger's campaign team disputes. On Wednesday, his campaign asked television stations around California to pull one of the commercials, titled "Record." Another titled "Stop Playing" makes the same claim.
The commercials:
_ Title: "Record."
_ Length: 30 seconds.
_ Airing: Began Tuesday in major California markets.
Dominant image: Opens with Schwarzenegger on TV screen inside an empty classroom, fades to black screen with images of kids working. Text flashes, reinforcing the words in the narrator's message.
Script: "Before taking Gov. Schwarzenegger's word that his Prop. 74 is good for schools, look at his record. The governor borrowed $2 billion from public schools and broke his promise to pay it back. He wants to reduce school funding by another $4 billion and give himself the power to make more cuts without consulting anyone else.
Now his Prop. 74 allows a principal to fire a teacher without giving a reason or even a hearing. Prop 74, another bad Schwarzenegger idea that hurts our schools."
---
_ Title: "Stop Playing."
_ Length: 30 seconds.
_ Airing: Began Tuesday in major markets.
Dominant image: Stephanie Floyd-Smith, seventh-grade teacher, sitting in a classroom, speaking directly to the camera, cuts to parent Renee Smith, standing in front of a playground.
Script:
Teacher: "Gov., you've already broken your promises on education. Now you're sponsoring Proposition 74, a ballot measure that allows one principal to fire a teacher without giving a reason, or even a hearing, without doing anything to improve teacher training.
Parent: "Parents like me are voting no on Prop. 74 to send the governor a message: Stop playing politics with our schools, and get to work on smaller class sizes, up-to-date textbooks and restoring music and art classes, the things our kids really need."
---
Analysis:
The union, which has labeled Proposition 74 the "Blame Teachers Act," continues to target Schwarzenegger as out to get teachers.
The teachers association said a technicality in the proposition's wording would let districts fire a teacher without a hearing, although chief attorney Beverly Tucker acknowledged teachers could still seek a hearing after their dismissal. Current law gives teachers 30 days to request the hearing before they are fired.
"When you get that notice, you are fired, but then you have a chance to appeal it," Tucker said. "That actually is a really important distinction, because that determines whether your pay and your medical benefits continue."
Proposition 74 does require two consecutive unsatisfactory performance evaluations before a teacher can be fired. Current law requires a district to document a history of poor performance.
Tucker acknowledged that a principal still would not be able to directly fire a teacher, but she said school boards routinely act on the recommendations of principals.
Todd Harris, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team, said it's false to claim that teachers could be fired without a reason.
"The reason for termination is simple: It's because you have received two unsatisfactory job evaluations," he said. "So to suggest that you're fired for no reason is ridiculous."
The claims about school spending have been a long-running dispute between the governor and education officials.
Two months after the 2003 recall election, Schwarzenegger persuaded the state's education lobby to suspend Proposition 98, the state's minimum funding guarantee for public schools, for one year.
To help the state patch a multibillion dollar budget hole, public schools gave up half of a $4 billion increase they would have been due under the law. The governor and educators are now at odds over another part of the arrangement - whether Schwarzenegger agreed to increase funding to schools if the state's fiscal outlook improved, which it did this year.
Schwarzenegger allocated about $3 billion in unanticipated expenses in this year's budget to road projects, local governments and paying down the state's debt. Educators, including the teachers association, have said that money should have gone to schools under the December 2003 closed-door agreement.
The governor's office responds by saying the $61 billion given to public schools in the 2005-2006 fiscal year is a record and is a $3 billion increase over last year.
A letter written by attorneys for the campaign asked stations to pull the plug on the ads.
"We encourage you to exercise your rights under the Federal Communications Act by requiring the No on Proposition 74 Committee to validate the claims made in its advertisement. We believe they will not be able to," the letter said.
Several television stations contacted Wednesday by The Associated Press did not respond to calls seeking comment.
"... restoring music and arts classes, things our kids really need."
So they can think deep artistic and musical thoughts about being unemployed and mooching off the rest of us. No thanks. How about the emphasis on math, science and business ? O, I forget, in the nirvana that is CA school system those things are unnecessary. We'll just tell kids that when they grow up we can just all tax the "rich" have a free ride.
Sounds like the dishonest ads against Roberts. Lies are all the left has to debate with.
Has anybody heard the anti-75 ad ..??
When they list who is sponsoring the ad, they use the phrase "REAL NURSES".
What's with that ..?? Are they saying that those who don't want the unions telling them how to vote are NOT REAL NURSES. So if you're voting YES on 74 - you're not a REAL NURSE. That is so disgusting.
This is personal to me. I have a very talented niece who is sacrificing a lot to attend a specialized nursing school. Is she not a REAL NURSE ..?? I'm outraged by this blatant LIE.
I haven't heard that one.
P.S. My niece is also in nursing school (and also very talented, lol).
The CTA has also refused all pay-for-performance money, even though that would go as additional income to their members. The reasoning they actually give their members is that the extra pay would "destroy teamwork".
Geeezzz....
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