by Lance T. Izumi, Fellow in California Studies
Pacific Research Institute
April 29, 2003

Announcer lead:  Lance Izumi says that there's a good chance that public schools could be turned into political communications centers.

Under current law, it's a crime to use public school facilities and services to support or oppose political candidates or ballot measures. The law aims to uphold the political neutrality of public schools, which are taxpayer-funded institutions. A bill recently passed by the State Assembly, however, could change things.

Assembly Bill 503 by Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe would grant an exception to current law for school employee unions to use school mailboxes, bulletin boards and other means of communication for political campaign activities directed at employees. Unions could stuff campaign flyers in teachers' mailboxes and hang campaign posters in the faculty lounge.

The implications of the bill are wide ranging. First, the unions will save money in mailing and other costs that they can then redirect to other political purposes, such as larger contributions to candidates. Also, since only employee unions are exempted, these groups receive an unfair advantage in the communication battle for the votes of employees. Why should the unions be able to use taxpayer-funded facilities and services for political purposes and not, for example, the local chamber of commerce? Further, schools are paid for by taxpayers of all political persuasions. Most people would agree that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for facilities and services that may be used a special-interest organization to support particular candidates or ballot measures.

Probably most important, politicizing school facilities could shift the focus of teachers and school employees away from their main goal - improving student achievement.

Transforming public schools into union political communications centers, however, may become a reality. The bill has just been passed by the State Assembly and will now go to the State Senate, which passed a similar bill last year. Governor Davis vetoed that bill, but only because political postings at schools could be seen by the public. Since the new bill addresses this narrow concern, there's a good chance the Governor could sign it. An important aspect of public schools could therefore be changing very soon.

With a perspective, I'm Lance Izumi.

Lance Izumi is the Director of Center for School Reform at the California-based Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. He can be reached via email at lizumi@pacificresearch.org.