According to the San Francisco Chronicle, State Senator Don Perata (D-Oakland) has dropped his support of Rob Reiner’s Proposition 82, the mandatory preschool/increase income tax/Help Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado Initiative, because it was too expensive. Perata noted that the estimated cost per child (under Proposition 82) would be over $8,000 (for a half-day); this is larger than the per-student cost for a full day of school at some elementary schools in California.
Perata was also troubled by the year-end advertising campaign that First Five mounted, noting “That was over the line. A blatant effort to promote the initiative.” There have been calls in the state legislature for audits of First Five.