Public Sector Choice in California

The issue of choice in education has been prevalent for many years, but recently has become a topic of renewed interest in California. Eleven choice bills, which would allow parents to select, under varying guidelines, their children's schools, were introduced in the 1989 legislative session. All were held over to 1990 for further study. What has caused this upsurge of interest in choice? There are several reasons, but perhaps primary among them has been the political consensus not to consider seriously public aid to private schools. Vouchers or tuition tax credits have been defeated at the national level, and the Bush administration did not mention the "V word"' in its initial advocacy meetings on behalf of choice. Moreover, a Democratic governor in Minnesota has led that state into a public sector open enrollment bill that was emulated by Arkansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. In 1989, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig, who strongly opposes vouchers or any form of aid to private schools, proposed his own bill, AB 2134, that effectively would require parents each year to choose a public school within or outside of their child's assigned school district.

In short, the politics of choice have changed, and the most controversial components, including public support for private schools, have receded into the background. Some public choice approaches have become more popular because proponents assume they will entail very small state costs. Low cost proposals, however, do little to promote the supply of school site alternatives.

Many volumes and papers have been written on the subject of choice. Some of these are included in the bibliography for this paper. Our objective here, however, is not to provide a comprehensive analysis of the choice literature, but rather to analyze the California bills and highlight particular implications of the California context for choice. The companion document which PACE is distributing is a fine overview of much of the general choice literature. Prepared by the Education Commission of the States, it is entitled Choice: Options for State Policy Makers.