Press Release - June 13, 2000

Tuesday, June 13, 2000 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Laura Wotruba (517) 327-2589

ALL Kids First! receives more than 1000 donations

LANSING, Mich.- More than 1000 individuals and organizations from across the state have pledged their support in the fight against school vouchers. In a campaign finance report to be filed later today, ALL Kids First! will report contributions from more than 900 individuals and 100 organizations for a total contribution of more than $500,000.

"People across the state are realizing that the voucher scheme means giving public dollars to private schools," said Georgene Campbell, chairperson of ALL Kids First!, a coalition of more than 175 education, civil rights, religious and community groups fighting vouchers. "You'll find the pro-voucher side funded by a couple of multi-millionaires. We received more than a thousand contributions, which demonstrates the broad-based scope of our effort to defeat school vouchers."

Individual contributions ranged from $5 to $500. The Michigan Association of School Administrators and the Michigan Association of School Business Officials, which have a combined membership of more than 2,500 individuals statewide, were among the largest organizational contributors.

"More and more people in this state are finding that the school voucher scheme will hurt kids and hurt our local public schools," Campbell said. "We are gaining momentum in the fight against school vouchers."

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