RESPONDENTS LIKE PROPOSAL OF DRUG TREATMENT INSTEAD OF JAIL

Californians remain divided over school vouchers and making it easier to
pass local school-construction bonds, but two-thirds of the state's voters
approve sending first-time drug offenders into treatment programs instead
of jail, says a Field Poll being released today.

Field's survey of three initiatives planned for the November ballot found
sentiment on two longstanding controversial school issues has changed
little since voters rejected them in the past.

The public is almost evenly divided on venture capitalist Tim Draper's
voucher plan, which would provide parents $4,000 per child to pay tuition
at the school of their choice.

Voters rejected a voucher plan in 1993 by 70 percent to 30 percent.

A second initiative, to reduce the vote threshold for local school bonds
from two-thirds to 55 percent, is favored by a minimal 45 percent to 41
percent, with 14 percent undecided.

If history holds, neither vouchers nor the local-bond threshold is likely
to pass in November, pollster Mark DiCamillo said. Reviewing more than 100
polls of California initiatives, DiCamillo said those that succeed, almost
without exception, start out with big margins of support.

"Early polls like these are measuring voter reaction to a concept, and that
just doesn't easily change," DiCamillo said. "These surveys show that on
these two measures, the voters aren't certain on the concept."

Only last fall, California voters rejected a proposal to reduce the
threshold for passing local school-construction bonds from two-thirds to a
simple majority.

Since then, proponents, including most education groups in the state, have
rewritten the initiative to address the opposition's concerns. They've
added a committee to oversee the bonds and slightly raised the threshold,
among other changes.

"I think we've looked at what went wrong, and once the voters see how it's
been amended, we can turn that 14 percent of undecideds around," said
Maimie Starr, facilities planner for Lodi Unified School District, which
has tried and failed to pass a school bond five times in the past 10 years.

"My sense is that people are going to say, 'Didn't we just vote on this?'
and they are going to read the details to see what's different."

Lodi Unified won 62 percent of the vote in its latest effort, in September,
just a few votes shy of the 66.7 percent it needed for a two-thirds majority.

In March, Manteca Unified School District just barely failed to pass a $40
million bond.

"Yeah, 35 percent of the voters beat 65 percent," outgoing facilities
director Jerry Ogden quipped. Manteca Unified was looking to address its
needs over the next several years with the bond and a match from the state.

Trustees for Stockton Unified School District, the region's biggest, are
preparing to ask voters to approve a construction bond to address more than
$200 million in needs for its aging facilities.

"We in Stockton Unified have just about exhausted our resources for
improvements," Superintendent George Ridler said.

Today's Field Poll looks much brighter for the initiative to require
drug-treatment programs and probation for nonviolent first- and second-time
drug offenders not charged in the sale of drugs.

The measure leads by a wide 64 percent to 20 percent.

Published reports say about 19,000 inmates in the state prison system are
arrested for simple drug possession, and the Legislative Analyst's Office
estimates that the measure could save the state up to $150 million annually
as well as up to $575 million in future prison construction costs.

The measure is opposed by a number of police groups that say they oppose
the treatment program because it does not include serious-enough
consequences. The opposition is backed by Stockton millionaire developer
Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers football team, who already has
contributed $100,000 to defeat it.

Spanos said he opposes the initiative because he believes it decriminalizes
the use and possession of hard drugs.

"Being a family man and as the owner of a football team, I do not believe
we should be lax on drugs," Spanos said.

The nonpartisan Field surveys were conducted June 9-18 among 642
Californians considered likely to vote in the Nov. 7 election based on
their prior voting records.

* To reach reporter Dianne Barth, phone 546-8294 or e-mail dbarth@recordnet.com