| Elections in California |
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Proposition 74 (2005) was a ballot proposition in the 2005 California special election that intended to extend probationary periods for the state's public school teachers from two years to five before attaining tenure. It failed at the polls, with 55% of voters rejecting it.
New Jersey actually became the first state to pass tenure legislation when, in 1910, it granted fair-dismissal rights to college professors. [1] The Incumbent law, passed in 1983, required that teachers be evaluated for performance during a two-year probationary period before gaining tenure. [2] In the winter of 2004, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sponsored a bill to amend the state Constitution to require merit pay for teachers. The state legislature voted against the bill in February 2005. [3] The next month, Governor Schwarzenegger formally endorsed the Put Kids First Act, written and submitted by Assemblymember Bonnie Garcia (Republican, Cathedral City). That act laid out the conditions for Proposition 74, including increasing probationary period from two to five years and allowing school districts to dismiss teachers who receive two consecutive negative job evaluations. It qualified for the ballot June 6. [4]
Proposition 74: Public School Teachers. Waiting Period for Permanent Status. Dismissal. Initiative Statute.
Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments:
Governor Schwarzenegger, along with former United States Secretary of State and economic advisor to the governor George Shultz and Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Pete Mehas, supported Proposition 74. [3] Prop 74 was one of four propositions (the other three were 73, 75, and 76) the governor touted as his reform package.
One major point the proponents constantly cited was a horror story: A Riverside teacher swore at her students, showed them R-rated movies, and generally was a bad teacher; however, due to tenure rules, the district had to pay the teacher US$25,000 to quit. They said that Proposition 74 would make it easier to fire these kinds of teachers because they had a longer tenure period and less paperwork and procedures to fire a teacher. [5]
California's two teachers unions, the California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers, as well as state superintendent of education Jack O'Connell, opposed the measure. [3] Arguments that the unions presented against Proposition 74 included that its new requirements would discourage new teachers and encourage school districts to lay off older teachers for costing more in salary and benefits, all while doing little to nothing to improve classrooms. [2]
On November 8, 2005, California voters soundly rejected the proposition, with 44.8% voting for and 55.2% voting against.
Proposition 13 is an amendment of the Constitution of California enacted during 1978, by means of the initiative process. The initiative was approved by California voters on June 6, 1978 by a nearly two to one margin. It was upheld as constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Nordlinger v. Hahn, 505 U.S. 1 (1992). Proposition 13 is embodied in Article XIII A of the Constitution of the State of California.
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Proposition 58 was a California ballot proposition on the March 2, 2004 ballot. It passed with 4,535,084 (71.2%) votes in favor and 1,841,138 (28.8%) against. It was officially called the California Balanced Budget Act. It requires the state legislature to pass a balanced budget every year, which means that budgeted recurrent expenditure, including repayment of past debt, does not exceed estimated revenue. The act does not require that capital works programs be funded out of current revenues. The California Constitution has always allowed bond issues for specified capital works, above a certain value. Bond measures must be approved by a statewide ballot.
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The California special election of 2005 was held on November 8, 2005 after being called by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on June 13, 2005.
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The governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger began in 2003, when Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for Governor of California in a recall election. He was subsequently elected Governor when the previous governor Gray Davis was recalled and Schwarzenegger placed first among replacement candidates. Schwarzenegger served the remainder of Davis' incomplete term between 2003 and 2007. Schwarzenegger was then reelected to a second term in 2006, serving out this full term and leaving office in January 2011. Schwarzenegger was unable to run for a third term due to term limits imposed by the Constitution of California.
Proposition 4, or the Abortion Waiting Period and Parental Notification Initiative, also known to its supporters as Sarah's Law, was an initiative state constitutional amendment in the 2008 California general election.
Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage; it passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned in court. The proposition was created by opponents of same-sex marriage in advance of the California Supreme Court's May 2008 appeal ruling, In re Marriage Cases, which followed the short-lived 2004 same-sex weddings controversy and found the previous ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Proposition 8 was ultimately ruled unconstitutional by a federal court in 2010, although the court decision did not go into effect until June 26, 2013, following the conclusion of proponents' appeals.
California Proposition 6, also known as the Safe Neighborhoods Act and The Runner Initiative, is a statutory initiative that appeared on the November 2008 ballot in California. This proposition was rejected by voters on November 4 of that year.
Proposition 11 of 2008 was a law enacted by California voters that placed the power to draw electoral boundaries for State Assembly and State Senate districts in a Citizens Redistricting Commission, as opposed to the State Legislature. To do this the Act amended both the Constitution of California and the Government Code. The law was proposed by means of the initiative process and was put to voters as part of the November 4, 2008 state elections. In 2010, voters passed Proposition 20 which extended the Citizen Redistricting Commission's power to draw electoral boundaries to include U.S. House seats as well.
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The California state elections, November 2010 were held on November 2, 2010.
Proposition 23 was a California ballot proposition that was on the November 2, 2010 California statewide ballot. It was defeated by California voters during the statewide election by a 23% margin. If passed, it would have suspended AB 32, a law enacted in 2006, legally referred to its long name, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Sponsors of the initiative referred to their measure as the California Jobs Initiative while opponents called it the Dirty Energy Prop.
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