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Critics: Education plans
lack initiative
Governor hopefuls' ideas are too sketchy, they say
by Mark Hornbeck, Detroit News, October 23, 2002
For more articles on disabilities and special ed visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
Justin King has made education his career, so he'd like to
choose a candidate for governor based on a careful review of
their school agendas.
But King says their plans are so sketchy, he can't pick
between Republican Dick Posthumus and Democrat Jennifer
Granholm on that basis alone.
"Both have said education is their top priority, but neither
one has said where the money's going to come from to pay for
their good ideas," said King, executive director of the
Michigan Association of School Boards.
"There's enough confusion, especially about funding, it would
be difficult for voters to make up their minds strictly on the
candidates' education positions. They both owe us a more
detailed explanation."
C. Philip Kearney, retired education professor and school
finance expert from the University of Michigan, offered this
critique of the candidates' education platforms: "There's
nothing you could violently disagree with. But I also didn't
find them very exciting. I suspect they recognize the state is
facing a tough revenue situation, so they didn't come up with
major initiatives."
The Detroit News asked King and Kearney to take a close look
at education issue papers by Posthumus and Granholm. Both
major-party candidates received mediocre grades.
Voters are likewise scrutinizing the candidates' ideas about
how to improve public schools. According to Detroit News
polls, education is second on their list of pressing issues
facing the state this election year, behind the economy.
"Somebody ought to have education at the top of their agenda,"
said Barbara Fitzgerald, a Warren homemaker who does volunteer
work in schools. "It surprises me what the kids don't know.
I've found that fourth-graders don't even know their
multiplication tables."
"It surprises me what the kids don't know. I've found that
fourth-graders don't even know their multiplication tables."
Proposal A
Posthumus' math skills tell him not to mess with Proposal A,
the school finance reform measure passed by voters in 1994
that traded a property tax cut for a sales tax hike. Voters
are happy with the 30-percent property tax reduction, so he's
made "keep the promise of Proposal A" the centerpiece of his
campaign.
Granholm initially said she would tweak Proposal A, but later
said that doesn't mean jacking up property taxes. She'd like
to find a way to help districts with rapidly rising or falling
enrollments that are hurt by the current funding formula. But
her only money-raising idea is to offer tax breaks for
donations to school foundations.
"Proposal A did a lot of good things, but the fact remains a
lot still has to be done," Kearney said. "You can't blame that
on Proposal A. Both now say they're not going to touch it. And
they're focusing on the tax reduction question, not the school
quality aspects."
Granholm also favors a state bonding plan to provide
low-interest loans to needy districts for buildings and
technology. Posthumus would allow property tax exemptions to
developers who build schools and then lease them to local
districts.
"The low-interest loan idea is a gesture in the right
direction, but we don't know enough about it to say whether it
can be more than a gesture," King said, noting that Granholm
hasn't indicated how big the pot will be, what districts would
be eligible or how much they could borrow.
On Posthumus' school leasing proposal, King said: "I don't
know of any private sector businesses out there who would jump
at the chance to do this. If it's a good idea with no takers,
we're not one dime better off."
Few details
Posthumus has repeatedly vowed to make sure every student can
read by third grade. That's a good sound bite, the experts
said, but Posthumus hasn't laid out detailed plans to
accomplish that goal.
Granholm would raise the dropout age to 18 and yank driver's
licenses from chronic truants.
"Kids who are skipping school are probably going to drive
without the permit," King said. "And there are two sides to
the dropout issue. On one hand, if kids stay in school until
they're 18, that can benefit them and society. But kids who
want to drop out at 16 tend to be the ones disrupting the
classrooms for those who do want to learn."
King said the most expensive but unfunded item on Granholm's
wish list is lowering class sizes in early elementary grades.
That would mean either hiring a bunch of teachers or
increasing class sizes at later grades, he said.
Relying on Congress
Posthumus' plan to open an academy to train principals, King
added, is possibly redundant because similar programs are
offered by state education schools and principals'
associations.
And he said both candidates' school blueprints rely too
heavily on squeezing more money out of Congress for early
childhood education and other programs.
"That's pie in the sky. For two candidates for governor to
hook their stars to more federal funding just isn't
realistic," King said.
Neither candidate offers much in the way of improving the
quality of teaching, according to Kearney.
"Some states offer salary supplements for teachers who get
added training to become national-board certified, which is a
first-rate standard," Kearney said.
"If you're really serious about improving schools, the first
thing you look at is improving teacher quality."
Charter schools
On the charter school issue, Posthumus wants to raise the 150
limit on the number of these alternative public schools that
can be authorized by universities, which is how most charter
schools get the right to open. Granholm, who says the state's
current 183 charter schools aren't adequately accountable to
the public, would leave the cap on and she calls for closer
monitoring.
Posthumus favored the school voucher proposal overwhelmingly
rejected by Michigan voters two years ago, but says it's now a
dead issue that he won't try to resurrect. Granholm opposes
vouchers.
"The next shot across the bow will be tuition tax credits for
parents who send their children to private schools. Where do
the candidates stand on that? Their agendas don't say," King
said.
For the record, Granholm opposes tuition tax credits and
Posthumus philosophically supports the idea, but says voters
have already spoken loud and clear on the issue of using
public money to pay for private schools.
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