SANTA CLARITA : College Trustees Oppose Vouchers

The Santa Clarita Community College District board of trustees has voted unanimously to oppose a statewide ballot initiative that would give the parents of each kindergarten through 12th-grade student $2,500 to help pay for tuition at a private or parochial school.

In the resolution approved at a special meeting Monday, trustees also urged voters not to sign petitions now being circulated to place the initiative on the November ballot.

The resolution said funds to pay for the vouchers would come from taxpayer dollars, breaking a long-held principle in California that public funds should not go to support private and religious schools.

Trustees also stated that the initiative would reduce state support to California’s public schools between $1 billion and $2 billion annually, with community college losing “hundreds of millions of dollars.”