Many Central Los Angeles residents who want to send their children to private schools, but can't afford to, regard school vouchers as their long-awaited ticket out of the city's ailing public school system.
But Proposition 174, which would allow parents to use tax-funded vouchers to send their children to private or parochial schools, may not be a viable option for some parents. Most local private schools, for instance, are not equipped to serve special-education students or limited-English speakers, who account for at least two in five students in Los Angeles.
Neither Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles nor the vast majority of other religious and nondenominational private schools in Central Los Angeles offer bilingual or special-education classes. There are several private special-education schools in Los Angeles, but tuition is far greater than the $2,600 vouchers that will be issued to parents if the measure passes.
Proponents of Proposition 174, which goes before voters Tuesday, argue that vouchers would give private schools the financial incentive to start special-education and English as a Second Language programs. And, they say, the measure would be particularly beneficial to inner-city children without special needs because many of those students attend the worst public schools.
"I would rather not buy food than send my daughter to a public school," said Jinah Sihn, whose daughter attends first grade at Los Angeles Hankook Schools, which have about 200 elementary and junior high students at its two Mid-City campuses.
"I went through public schools in L.A. and there are no standards. I hear about guns at school, that high school graduates can't read, and I think to myself, 'Have our standards gotten that low?' "
In a February, 1993, report, "What a Voucher Could Buy," the Southwest Regional Laboratory found that only 3.5% of the state's private schools provide special instruction for students who speak limited English, and fewer than 10% have special-education programs. The California-based educational research agency mailed surveys to 2,717 private schools with an enrollment of at least 25 students, and received 1,004 responses.
Whether Proposition 174, also known as the Education Vouchers Initiative, is a workable option for all children is of great concern in Los Angeles, where more than 40% of the roughly 640,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District speak English as a second language, and 10% are enrolled in special education. School officials estimate that the percentages are even higher in the inner city.
"Private schools could reject kids with learning disabilities or limited English, and the majority of students in my district would fall (into) this category," said Barbara Boudreaux, a Los Angeles school board member whose district includes parts of South-Central and Southwest Los Angeles. "If it should pass, it would be totally devastating to my district."
Proponents doubt that students speaking limited English would be shunned under the voucher initiative because private schools would cater to these students' needs.
"I think you would see the free-market economy working," said Andrew Cunningham, South-Central director of Yes on 174. "If there are children eligible for ESL (English as a Second Language) or bilingual courses, and schools know they would have a reliable source of income, I think you would see a change in the private-school curriculum."
Special-education students also would be able to attend private schools because it is "highly likely" that the Legislature will award these students additional funds, said David Barulich, research director of Yes on 174.
Proposition 174, however, merely states that, the Legislature "\o7 may \f7 award supplemental funds for reasonable transportation needs for low-income children and special needs attributable to physical impairment or learning disability."
At the ERAS Center, a private special-education facility in Culver City, most parents are not contributing anything toward the annual $18,000 tuition because the government is picking up the tab, said Barbara Cull, the center's executive director
Federal law requires public schools to send a special-education child to non-public schools such as the ERAS Center if the school district does not have proper facilities to educate the child or if the child has not progressed for two or three years. The tuition is then subsidized by the school district. At some schools, additional funds are raised through other sources. In Los Angeles, there are about 80 private special-education schools.
"To me, Proposition 174 wouldn't help parents very much because it wouldn't cover even half the tuition at this and most other special-education schools," said Cull, who estimates that most private special-education schools charge between $10,000 and $20,000 a year. "Why would parents choose to use the voucher when they don't have to pay anything right now?"
