* Calif. Voucher Proposal Would Benefit Affluent Families, Says Report
* More Critics Emerge in Pro-Voucher Study by Peterson
* Needlestick Legislation Needs Your Support
* AFT Wins Health and Safety Grant for K-12 Training
* Union Joins Effort To Turn Up the Heat on School Modernization
* World Teachers' Day…Where and When

CALIFORNIA VOUCHER MEASURE WOULD BENEFIT AFFLUENT

California's ballot proposal to give $4,000 vouchers for students to attend private or religious schools will be a $3 billion windfall for affluent parents whose children already attend these schools, says a study released by scholars at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. The study from the nonpartisan Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), released Sept. 20, says the payout of taxpayer dollars if Proposition 38 passes on Nov. 7 would not expand choice to more families. "It's essentially tax relief for the well-off," says Luis Huerta, co-author of the report.

Although Proposition 38 supporters claim that the state would save money, the research team found that private schools would have to more than double their enrollments before the state would break even financially. "It's not clear how private schools could expand their teaching staffs by 150 percent and finance massive classroom construction--paid for by a voucher amount that covers only one-half to two-thirds the real cost of instructing one child," says Bruce Fuller, a Berkeley professor who helped write the report.

The report also analyzed the research on city-level voucher experiments. It found that small-scale voucher programs do boost math achievement of black students at the elementary level, but those positive effects leveled off after an initial climb in the first year. And even when vouchers are targeted at lower-income families, notes the report, low-income parents who apply and use the voucher tend to have certain advantages. In several cities, families who accepted the vouchers tended to be better educated and less poor than those who did not take the vouchers. An executive summary of the report, "A Costly Gamble or Serious Reform? California's School Voucher Initiative--Proposition 38" is posted on the AFT Web site at http://www.aft.org/issues/PACE_study.html. The summary also includes a link to the full report (pdf file) on the PACE Web site.

MORE CRITICS EMERGE IN PRO-VOUCHER STUDY

The study released last month touting the effectiveness of vouchers in improving achievement among African-American students has come under renewed criticism. As reported in last week's "Inside AFT," the study, written by researcher Paul E. Peterson of Harvard University, reported that voucher students in Dayton, Ohio; New York City and Washington, D.C., outscored students who did not get vouchers. But the leading research firm for the New York City portion of the study took the unusual step of issuing a statement noting that the positive results of the pro-voucher study were exaggerated and that the research "shows no significant difference in test scores" between voucher winners and students who did not get a voucher. The only gains among African-American students in New York City were those in the sixth grade, Now, the People for the American Way Foundation has reviewed Peterson's research and concludes that "there are many reasons to believe that the claims made by Paul Peterson….are not supported by the facts." PFAW has issued a point-by-point rebuttal of the pro-voucher study's methodology and claims, charging that Peterson misuses the findings of his research to create "a false impression of broad-based gains among African-American voucher students in New York City." The PFAW's report, "Deception by the Numbers," is posted online (note that this is a pdf file) at http://www.pfaw.org/.

CONTACT CONGRESS NOW FOR NEEDLESTICK PREVENTION

Your voice is needed to help enact federal legislation that could stem needlestick injuries--one of the biggest dangers health care workers face in the workplace. The national Centers for Disease Control report that there are more than 800,000 needlestick injuries each year. These preventable injuries result in thousands of health care workers contracting the virus that causes AIDS, as well as hepatitis B and C.

Both houses of Congress are now considering "The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act," a new bipartisan bill to prevent these injuries. It would require employers to identify, evaluate and make use of safer medical devices. The legislation (H.R. 5178 and S. 3061) stresses the need for workers at risk of needlestick injuries to participate in the evaluation and selection of safer devices. The bills also emphasize training, education and the creation of new record-keeping requirements to help employers identify and eliminate high-risk situations.

Visit the legislative action center at the "Contact Congress" section of AFT Online (http://www.aft.org/) where you can send a letter to your representatives urging them to cosponsor this legislation and work for its enactment.

AFT WINS OSHA GRANT FOR K-12 TRAINING

The AFT has been awarded a five-year federal grant to develop the first comprehensive occupational safety and health training program for K-12 school employees. The grant, from the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), enables the AFT to train K-12 members on health and safety hazards in schools. The first part of the program will be developed through the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, which will prepare a curriculum and training program for special education paraprofessionals. This year, the focus will be on these paraprofessionals and on bus drivers and garage mechanics. The AFT will train special education staff on preventing ergonomic injuries--back, shoulder and neck injuries associated with lifting and assisting disabled students--in classroom settings. The union will also provide training on all aspects of work-related exposure to blood-borne and other communicable diseases.

Training for bus drivers and garage mechanics also will focus on ergonomic hazards, as well as toxic exposures to diesel exhaust and other hazardous chemicals. Next year, the union will expand the program to train office workers, school nurses and custodial maintenance workers. By year five, the AFT will have developed a training program for every type of school employee on several issues, including indoor air quality and common safety hazards.

GROUPS TURN UP THE HEAT ON SCHOOL MODERNIZATION

The AFT continues to help lead the push for federal legislation that would enable school districts to repair and modernize school buildings. AFT vice president George Springer was among the speakers at a Sept. 15 Congressional Black Caucus press conference urging passage of legislation that would provide for school construction tax-credit bonds. A vote for the "America's Better Classrooms Act" introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) "is a vote for higher standards for our public schools," Springer said. "We are demanding much of our students and teachers these days, but they must be in schools that are modern, have smaller class sizes, are wired for technology, and otherwise are conducive to learning."

The proposed legislation would allow school districts to make desperately needed improvements that they otherwise could not afford, Springer said. "We owe it to our students and teachers who spend hours every day in aging, unsafe and overcrowded buildings to pass this legislation." Other organizations that support the school modernization bill include the National Education Association, the Council of Great City Schools, the American Institute of Architects, and PowerUP (a group dedicated to building public/private partnerships to help bridge the digital divide). AFT members can send a message to their representatives urging support for school modernization through the union's legislative action center at AFT online, http://www.aft.org/. Click on "Contact Congress."

WORLD TEACHERS' DAY…Education International and UNESCO are sponsoring World Teachers' Day 2000 on Oct. 5 with commemorative stamps, a festival of films about teachers, Internet sites for greeting cards and other events. Education International represents 24 million education personnel through 296 organizations in 155 countries; AFT president Sandra Feldman is an EI vice president. To view some of the 20 stamps that have been issued in honor of World Teachers' Day and for more information about the celebration, visit EI's Web site at http://www.ei-ie.org/.

WHERE AND WHEN… On Sept. 28, AFT president Sandra Feldman will attend Freedom House's Board of Trustees meeting in New York City…. AFT secretary-treasurer Edward J. McElroy will attend a meeting of secretary-treasurers of the largest affiliates of Education International Sept. 28-29 in Washington, D.C…. AFT executive vice president Nat LaCour will attend Harvard University's third annual African American Labor Leaders Economic Summit in Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 28-30.

Contributors and sources for this week's edition of "Inside AFT" include PACE, Bella Rosenberg, People for the American Way, Darryl Alexander, Mike Rose, Bill Cunningham, Roger Glass, Tim Shea, Rita Freedman, Catherine Mason and Barbara Perry. Trish Gorman, editor; Laura Baker, copy editor.

Copyright by the American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO. All rights reserved. Photographs
and illustrations, as well as text, cannot be used without permission from the AFT.