SACRAMENTO – The state's largest teachers union and director Rob Reiner dropped their plans Thursday for an initiative to raise property taxes to pay for education and preschool programs.

The decision came a day after three anti-tax groups raised the specter that the measure could have raised residential property taxes, despite assurances from supporters that it would only affect commercial property.

Reiner and the California Teachers Union did not address the tax issue in a statement Thursday.

They said the measure would have been competing with four others on the November ballot that seek to raise revenue for specific purposes. Confusion over the crowded and complicated ballot "makes our job, and even the most attentive voter's job, much more difficult," the statement said.

The Improving Classroom Education Act would have raised commercial property tax rates from 1 percent of the value of the property to 1.55 percent.

The proposal sought to raise $7 billion, including $6 billion that would go toward public education and creating a universal preschool system. The rest would go toward a tax break for small businesses.

On Wednesday, CTA president Barbara Kerr said the campaign was close to its goal of collecting the 1 million signatures needed to put the initiative on the ballot.

But opponents said a glitch in the proposal's language could wind up costing homeowners billions, as well as erode tax protections that have been on the books for 26 years.

Although single-family residences were exempt in the proposal, language could allow the land beneath certain houses to be taxed at the higher rate, Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said Wednesday.

Mitch Zak, spokesman for the Californians Against Higher Property Taxes, said he was pleased the initiative was pulled.

"It was becoming very clear that organizations across the political spectrum were lining up in opposition to this," Zak said.