From Ballotpedia - Reading time: 2 min
| California Proposition 174 | |
|---|---|
| Election date November 2, 1993 | |
| Topic Education | |
| Status | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
California Proposition 174 was on the ballot as an initiated constitutional amendment in California on November 2, 1993. It was defeated.
Proposition 174 would have provided vouchers for families in California to pay tuition at schools other than their local public school. The amount of the voucher would have equalled half of the amount spent by the state on each child. The scholarship could have been used for the payment of tuition and other education fees at schools with 25 pupils or more that choose to join the program. Both private and public schools could become independent and require payments from parents beyond the voucher amounts provided.
Proposition 174 would also have imposed new restrictions on the ability of state and local governments to create new regulations affecting private schools, and would have allowed parents to choose which schools within the district their children would attend.
Opponents spent $18 million to defeat Proposition 174.[1]
|
California Proposition 174 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 1,561,514 | 30.44% | ||
| 3,567,833 | 69.56% | |||
The ballot title for Proposition 174 was as follows:
| “ | EDUCATION. VOUCHERS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. | ” |
The ballot summary for this measure was:
| “ |
•Amends California Constitution to enable parents to choose a child's school by requiring State to provide a voucher for every school-age child equal to at least 50 percent of prior fiscal year per pupil spending for K-12 public schools. •Requires Legislature to establish procedures whereby public schools may become independent voucher-redeeming schools. Vouchers may be redeemed by such schools and by qualifying private schools. Authorizes required academic testing. •Limits new regulation of private and voucher-redeeming schools. •Voucher expenditures and specified savings count toward education's existing constitutional minimum funding guarantee. | ” |
The full text of this measure is available here.
In California, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8 percent of the votes cast at the preceding gubernatorial election. For initiated amendments filed in 1993, at least 615,958 valid signatures were required.