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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2002

News Release

A Look at Key Education Ballot Measures

Washington, D.C.--Voters nationwide showed their support for public education in a number of key ballot measures. Notably, Florida voters backed smaller class sizes and quality pre-schools, while Colorado voters turned back a challenge to bilingual education.

In Election 2002, concerned citizens...

• in Arkansas voted against the removal of sales taxes on food and medicine, which in turn would have reduced revenue for the state's public schools (Amendment 3 YES: 38 percent, NO: 62 percent)
• in Arizona voted to dedicate a portion of sales taxes and public land revenues for public education (Proposition 300, YES: 76 percent, NO: 24 percent)
• in California voted for a historic $13.5-billion school-construction bond (Proposition 47, YES: 59 percent, NO: 41 percent), and voted to increase state grants for before- and after-school programs by $400 million (Proposition 49, YES: 57 percent, NO: 43 percent)
• in Colorado voted against a ban on bilingual education programs that would have required all students to be placed in English-only classes after a year of native language instruction. (Amendment 31, YES: 44 percent, NO: 56 percent)
• in Florida voted to offer voluntary, universal, high quality pre-kindergarten classes for all 4-year-olds (Amendment 8, YES: 59 percent, NO: 41 percent); voted to reduce public school class sizes (Amendment 9, YES: 52 percent, NO: 48 percent), and voted to create a new governing structure for higher education (Amendment 11, YES: 60 percent, NO: 40 percent)

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.