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Edited on Sun Sep-18-05 03:13 PM by jamesinca
I am all for making the political races interesting, but 77 does not do that. It allows a 3 committee panel, which 2 are appointed by the Governor to redistrict. It is more of the same and the majority of the committee is appointed by the Governor, which will only make it more open to partisan favors and corruption I think.
As far as 74 goes, teachers have a 2 year probation period and a way of dismissing them if they are not up to speed in 2 years. 74 extends that out to 5 years and takes away the process of a hearing before dismissal. If you give 4 years, 11 months and somebody does not like you, they can let you go with no justification. No teacher has a guaranteed job, this initiative is misleading about how teachers' jobs work. Right now all teachers get after 2 years is a hearing before they are fired. Here is the real odd part of 74, it makes it harder to get rid of teachers who are not doing their job after the probation period. If you consider that 75 would require all union members to state if they want any union dues to go to political causes and this list of people would be turned over to the Sect. of State. Take that with a 5 year probation on teachers and all of a sudden you have the potential of teachers being let go because they gave to a union political cause before their 5th year. That potential is there, nobody else has to register the names of its donors with the SOS like this will require, and it will affect the amount of teachers in California. Why would somebody come to California to teach if there is a 5 year probation and the ability to be let go with no justification during that time. 2 years is long enough and there is a process in place to remove a bad teacher. This initiative does nothing to improve student learning or deal with class sizes. Stanford University experts have said there is no evidence to show that a longer probation improves teacher quality. Add to this Prop 76 witch will cut 40 billion in ten years or $600 per stu cent and the schools will be underfunded AGAIN. It will over turn prop 98 and will allow more overcrowding in schools, more teacher layoffs because of less money ( 74 will give them a bunch of bodies to pick from and 75 will help narrow that down to political opponents), and fewer textbooks and materials.
These initiatives are driven by hate of unions. This is nothing but an attempt to scare people away from them. While you are out enjoying your day off from work, thank the Democrats, unions and the labor movement. Re pugs and business want you to work 24/7/365 with no overtime or benefits, why because it is cost effective.
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