WHEREAS, The Detroit City Council is unanimous in its support of efforts and requirements to ensure the right to access a quality public elementary and secondary education for all children in this state; and

WHEREAS, The Detroit City Council is unanimous in its belief that the guarantee of a quality public education is a cornerstone of the guaranteed freedoms for all citizens of the great State of Michigan; and

WHEREAS, The Detroit City Council is of the opinion that the right of "choice" in education is best served by insuring that public elementary and secondary schools are preserved and fully supported through all available direct and indirect state aid and maintenance; and

WHEREAS, The Detroit City Council views the proposed ‘voucher" plan put forth by Kids First! Yes! As little more than an attack on public education through the diversion of direct and indirect state aid and maintenance to religious, and other private schools under the guise of "choice"; and

WHEREAS, The Michigan Constitution of 1963 currently preserves and protects the right of all parents and children to attend the elementary and secondary schools of their choice; and

WHEREAS, The Michigan Constitution of 1963 preserves the fundamental right of the public to limit the expenditure of its tax dollars on public elementary and secondary institutions that are open to all children, without restriction or discrimination based on race, religion, creed, gender, special needs, class or income; and

WHEREAS, The Detroit City Council is opposed to the Kids First! Yes! Proposed amendment to the state constitution to permit voucher payments and indirect state aid and maintenance to religious and other non-public educational institutions for the following reasons:

1. the amendment will result in a loss of critical funding to public elementary and secondary schools’;
2. the amendment will permit families from school systems that would not otherwise be deemed to be a "failing" system to benefit from vouchers and other tax benefits to reduce their personal choice by reducing their payment for private education at the expense of the public and taxpayers;
3. there is no limitation on how long a "qualified" or failing school system will be deemed to be "failing" for purposes of continuing voucher supported private education for student of that "qualified" school system;
4. the proposed amendment permits publicly subsidized private and religious schools without also requiring that private schools receiving voucher be held to the same educational requirements, standards, oversight, investigation, rules and procedures as pubic school;
5. the proposed amendments do not require voucher supported private and religious school to admit student on a random selection basis, without regard to race, religion, test scores, scholastic standing, income disability, gender, special needs, or to her restrictive criteria, as is required for public school;
6. the amendment does not specify what constitutes indirect state aid, leaving it up to the state legislature to decide, thus permit tax credits and other indirect benefits for individuals, families and businesses that support, fund or attend religious/parochial and private schools;
7. there is no substantial and objective evidence from other voucher and "choice" jurisdictions to objectively and concretely deduce whether students using voucher to attend private schools perform measurably better on standardized tests, or receive appreciably higher grades than those attending public school;
8. that although the identified beneficiaries of the "voucher/choice" program are said to be children from low and moderate income families, in urban and rural districts, the "choices" available to the children and their families are severely limited by the ability to pay the remainder of tuition and expenses not covered by voucher, availability of transportation, admissions criteria, the pool of private schools accepting voucher, and the number of voucher supported slots available at any participating school;
9. there is no legal requirement that a private school have any academic record of excellence, or track record of effective remedial education success as a condition of participating in a voucher/choice program;
10. there are no minimum objective teacher testing standards prescribed by the proposed amendment language, leaving any testing requirements up to the political whims and fancy of the state legislature;
11. that all students, and public education will benefit from a concerted effort to reform the delivery systems for public education through reductions in class sizes; increased training of teachers; standard core curriculum requirement for all students; modernization and new construction of all pubic school facilities and infrastructure; increased parental involvement; and enhanced educational opportunities for all pubic school students.

NOW THERFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, That the Detroit City Council publicly declares its opposition to the Kids First! Yes! constitutional amendment proposal to permit voucher supported private education and other indirect state aid and maintenance in support of religious and other private education in any public school district of this state;

And BE IT FURTHER

RESOLVED, That following its adoption, the City Clerk is directed to transmit a copy of this resolution to the Honorable Dennis W. Archer, Mayor; Honorable John Engler, Governor; the Detroit NAACP; the All Kids First Coalition; the Kids First! Yes! Coalition; the Detroit Pubic Schools Reform Board, H. Freman Hendrix, Chairman; and the Communication and Creative Service Department of the City of Detroit.

Prepared for the Detroit City Council by the Research and Analysis Division 3/8/2000