School-voucher forces bowed, but unbeaten - California Proposition 174

Sr. Lourdes Sheehan, secretary for education for the U.S. Catholic Conference, watched California returns in disappointment, but not despair. "By no means is this election defeat a fatal blow to parental choice. It is not a matter of if this will be accepted politically; it's only a matter of when. Ultimately, choice is inevitable."

California voters, Sheehan thinks, were subjected to extraordinary pressure and misinformation as some $17 million poured into the opposition campaign. Supporters of the proposition raised a scant $2.7 million.

Next time better organization and stronger funding will be needed to let public policy catch up with public sentiment, Sheehan said, noting that more than 70 percent of the American public favors parental choice. Three cities now have choice programs far more restrictive (they don't include parochial schools) than that proposed in California: Milwaukee, Indianapolis and Minneapolis. Measures somewhat comparable to California's were defeated in Oregon in 1991 and in Colorado in 1992.

"People are beginning to recognize that we are the only democracy in which education is a monopoly," Sheehan said. As if to reinforce her views, California's secretary of state disclosed that within 36 hours of the polls'closing, five new plans for educational choice were filed.

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