PORTLAND -- A group comprising many of the principals of the education community, including parents, teachers, teachers unions and education industry advocates, has organized in opposition to Measure 58 and another schools initiative on the November ballot.

The Parents and Teachers Know Better Coalition lists at least 65 organizations, politicians and churches in opposition to Measure 58, including the Oregon PTA, Oregon’s teachers and school employees unions and others who campaign manager Treasure Mackley calls “experts in education.”

Mackley is a spokesperson for the group. She claims that Bill Sizemore, the measure's sponsor, has no business drafting ballot measures aimed at Oregon’s educational community and that he has no background or credibility on the issue.

“Ballot Measure 58 will take away local control from teachers and school boards for what works best in local schools. What works in Portland may not work in Baker City or Bend,” Mackley said. “It would punish students. We’re fighting this fight for the kids.”

Other opponents of Ballot Measure 58 have noted that the language is vague and that it could lead to additional layers of bureaucracy.

Sizemore disagrees. He points to a similar program in Arizona, where voters approved an English-learner program by initiative, which essentially replaces the ESL model with one focused on language immersion.

According to the Arizona model, non-native English speakers are required to spend four hours a day in English-only instruction and are grouped by proficiency level.

A report by the Arizona Republic indicates that state education officials there believed students who would otherwise spend six or seven years in ESL classes would now face a much shorter time period, about a year, to pick up the language.

But Arizona state lawmakers have not provided the funds needed to fully implement the program. Could the same problem face Oregon schools if the Legislature gets involved?

“It’s all about money,” Sizemore said. “Some of the ESL teachers’ jobs are totally unnecessary here and cost the state up to $100 million. The strategy is wrong.”

Mackley says if Sizemore wanted to draft an initiative to reduce the school budget he should have done so.

“It’s vague, it’s poorly worded, we don’t know what the program will be, how it will be implemented, who will qualify,” she said. “Measure 58 will cost the state half a billion dollars … School districts have the ability, by statute, to design programs based on research and 58 would change that. This is problematic."

Dollar amounts cited by the Parents and Teachers Know Better Coalition were credited to a financial impact estimate of the ballot measure by the Oregon Division of Elections.

Sizemore claims the numbers have been exaggerated and are "politically biased."

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