OPPOSITION TO PROPOSITION 8

By Peter K. Rundle

I oppose Proposition 8, which would create independent school councils responsible for curriculum, funding and other management functions at each school, in addition to creating a Chief Inspector of all schools. The bureaucracy created would simply duplicate our current community and parental involvement, but would do so at an enormously increased cost.

By any measure, Irvine's students consistently rank at the top of all students in Orange County. The talented and professional teachers, administrators and staff in Irvine do a fine job of educating our children. How do they achieve these results? In large part, our schools are successful because of your involvement in your children's schools and their education. Irvine's schools already have the kind of parental involvement Proposition 8 is intended to foster, but without its bloated bureaucracy and cost.

The destruction that might well result from passage of Proposition 8 can be seen in this example. Imagine your child attended an elementary school whose school council selected a unique curriculum. How would your child perform in middle school if the majority of children from other elementary schools had been exposed to a different curriculum? Or, imagine the difficulty your child would encounter if he or she transferred between schools within Irvine, each with a different curriculum.

Finally, the funds necessary to establish, monitor and manage school councils for each of Irvine's schools must come from some source within the District's budget. As it is, the District operates with only a thin margin. If Proposition 8 were to pass this November, the funds required to implement it would almost certainly require the reduction or elimination of other academic, athletic or extra-curricular programs now offered to our children.