Preschool For All Initiative Qualifies with One Million Signatures for June Ballot

First 5 California Chair Rob Reiner, flanked by prominent California business leaders at a news conference in San Francisco, announced last week plans to submit a million signatures to qualify the Preschool for All Act for the June 2006 ballot.

Support for the initiative has been building through endorsements by a broad-based coalition of business, civil rights, and labor leaders, including the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, which has never before endorsed a tax increase measure.

If approved by California voters, the initiative would provide quality, part-day preschool for all 4-year olds whose parents choose to enroll them.

The initiative taxes only the top one percent of income earners, establishing a trust fund dedicated solely to preschool through an increase of 1.7 percent on taxable incomes over $800,000 for married couples and $400,000 for individuals.