Sunday, December 11, 2005
California Pre-School Initiative
Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation report on Meathead's attempts to unionize and regulate pre-school education in California:
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Movie director turned child advocate Rob Reiner--best known for playing the role of "Meathead" on "All in the Family"--recently acquired a million signatures to put his Preschool for All initiative on the California ballot next June, his second attempt to launch a "universal" preschool program. The initiative would impose a 1.7% income tax on couples making over $800,000 a year ($400,000 for individuals) to offer three hours of free preschool for all the state's 4-year-olds.Apparently, the state has not screwed-up education enough in California. Now they want to go after 3-year olds.
This soak-the-rich scheme would put $2.3 billion into the state's coffers. But the people most dreading Mr. Reiner's latest foray are not the superrich, who would no doubt find ways to dodge--by moving out of the state if necessary--what would effectively be a 19% increase in their tax rate. The real victims would be low- to middle-income women who run nearly all private early-care centers that comprise 70% of California's child-care industry. The onerous credentialing requirements and union mandates that the initiative would trigger would devastate the industry's entrepreneurs without improving instruction one iota.
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