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Granholm Clarifies 'Tweak'; Wants Arbitration for Teachers
from MIRS, September 5, 2002
For more articles on disabilities and special ed visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jennifer GRANHOLM said she
does not favor giving school districts more leverage in
calling for millage elections and her “tweaking Proposal A”
comments have been distorted by her Republican opponent Dick
POSTHUMUS.
Speaking to reporters after a tour of the Capitol Area
Michigan Works! Office in Lansing, Granholm said the changes
she'd make to Proposal A would mean allowing school districts
to float low-interest bonds to fix their buildings and update
their technology.
“You can't lift children up in schools that are falling down
and you can't prepare the workforce for tomorrow with the
technology of yesterday,” Granholm said.
Posthumus and Republicans have attacked Granholm on her
comments that Proposal A needs to be “tweaked” so school
districts can receive “more resources” as a backdoor of saying
she wants to give districts more freedom in calling school
millage elections and raising property taxes. Granholm said
this “lie” has been perpetrated by the Posthumus campaign.
“I'm not interested in going back to a property tax-based way
of funding our schools,” she said. “I've said local schools
should have the flexibility to access additional funds. I
wasn't talking about property taxes, I was talking about them
being able to borrow at low interest rates for capital
improvements through a state bond issue or educational
foundations, which would allow for local parents or businesses
to donate and get a tax credit.”
This definition of "tweak" comes months after the issue was
first raised and appears to be a major revision of Granholm's
previous statements which tended to be less specific and open
to interpretation. This change could be interpreted as a
signal that Granholm's campaign sees the "tweak" Proposal A
issue as a potential winner for Posthumus and is moving to
nullify it before it has a chance to really resonate.
"This is just her latest definition of 'tweak,'" Posthumus
spokesman Sage EASTMAN told MIRS. "On numerous occasions she
has talked about tweaking Proposal A. Low interest loans have
nothing to do with Proposal A. Either she didn't know what she
was talking about then, she doesn't know what she is talking
about now, or she really does want to raise property taxes."
Granholm also said she supports binding arbitration for
teachers as opposed to simply repealing the teachers strike
sanctions put in place during the Gov. John ENGLER
administration. She said that giving teachers the ability to
call in an arbitrator to handle disputes gives them leverage
at the bargaining table and keeps them from going on strike.
When asked if this would create situations where school
districts would have to find additional revenue, Granholm
said, “maybe, maybe not.”
“Arbitration means there are two sides and there is some
leverage so people feel like they have some ability to
bargain,” she said.
Voters will decide in November whether binding arbitration
should be expanded for state employees, a proposal (02-3) that
Granholm supports and Posthumus opposes. The Senate Fiscal
Agency today reported that if the current trends hold true,
the arbitration proposal would cost the state between $30-$60
million starting in Fiscal Year 2005 (see related story).
Engler made note of Granholm's position on binding arbitration
during a talk with reporters in August, saying, “I point out
to local government, if there is binding arbitration for state
employees, binding arbitration for public school employees —
one step behind is binding arbitration for all local
government employees. A binding arbitration world would be a
pretty lousy world to be in.”
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