SACRAMENTO, CA - California voters soundly rejected Proposition 82, actor-director Rob Reiner's government-run preschool plan, by a margin of 61 to 39 percent. The voters did the right thing, and legislators can learn important lessons.

Proposition 82, or the Preschool for All initiative, attempted to tax higher-income Californians to fund a flawed state-controlled universal preschool program. The initiative would have raised $2.4 billion to give all four-year-olds preschool for three hours a day. Unrealistic as it was, proponents touted this as the magic bullet needed to cure the state's serious educational problems in the K-12 system.

The initiative polled well when first introduced, but as opponents pointed out its many flaws, both economic and educational, voters listened and ultimately rejected it. The program designed by Prop. 82 lacked components that were critical to the success of preschool programs in other cities. It also didn't help that Rob Reiner had to resign from the state preschool commission due to allegations of questionable use of classroom funds to help the campaign on 82.

The resounding rejection of this initiative indicates that California voters, who have always been generous when it comes to education spending, are finally fed up with the lack of results.

"Why would we turn over preschool to the same system that isn't delivering on its promise to K-12?'' said Pamela Rigg, president of the California Montessori Council, to the San Francisco Chronicle. Indeed, for years the public K-12 system has produced low student achievement and high dropout rates. School officials inevitably blame lack of funding even though the real problem is lack of accountability.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that even though "San Francisco's public schools spend more per student than the vast majority of other large districts in California'' and most of the big districts around the country, "for every dollar it spends on day-to-day operating expenses, just one penny goes to books and supplies.''

The defeat of Prop. 82 also indicates that voters are tired of ballot-box budgeting and want proven results before committing a huge amount of funding for another government-run program. There has been no research to show that kids from upper- and middle-income families would benefit from preschool. The state would do better to target limited resources on programs that benefit kids from low-income, disadvantaged backgrounds.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget included $50 million next year for a much smaller preschool program targeted at giving students who live near low-performing schools access to a half-day preschool program. Assembly and Senate Democrats zeroed out this funding, but the governor has asked them to reconsider. In effect, the governor's program will probably expand preschool to just as many kids as Prop. 82 would have, but at a fraction of the cost. Currently, 66 percent of preschool age children already attend preschool in California. The Reiner initiative aimed to bring enrollment to 70 percent -- a four percent increase with a price tag of $2.4 billion. Voters said no, but there's no doubt that the question of universal preschool will come up again.

Supporters of Proposition 82, including Rob Reiner himself, have declared that they won't be going away. Every election and legislative cycle will spawn new initiatives and bills asking voters and legislators to spend large sums of tax dollars on unproven educational projects. When that happens, Californians should show that they learned the lesson of this election. Any program, especially those affecting our youngest children, should start small and only be allowed to grow with demonstrated effectiveness and success.

Xiaochin Claire Yan is public policy fellow in education studies at the Pacific Research Institute. She may be reached at xyan@pacificresearch.org.