Council of Organizations and Others for Education About Parochiaid

HISTORY OF COUNCIL ABOUT PAROCHIAD

The Council About Parochiaid (CAP)-legally, the Council of Organizations and Others for Education About Parochiaid-organized in the late 1960's in response to efforts to allocate state money to support non-public schools. In 1968, the Michigan chapter of a national organization, the Citizens for Educational Freedom, had organized a letter campaign to legislators encouraging the use of public funds for nonpublic schools, with most of the funding presumably directed towards religiously based schools, often called parochial schools. The use of public dollars for private education is call "parochiaid".

At that time CAP was comprised of a mixture of school, labor, and civil liberties organizations, as well as religious groups such as the Methodist Church Conference, concerned about the impact of public dollars on religious practice and on public education. Although its exact membership has varied over time, CAP's membership has consistently represented a similar mixture of organizations and individuals, all concerned about the use of funding private, religiously based education with public dollars, although sometimes for somewhat different reasons.

CAP has been fortunate to be headed over the years by strong leaders who have included the current State Board of Education President Kathleen Straus, representing the Michigan Association of School Boards at the time of her presidency; Georgene Campbell, out of the Michigan Parent Teachers Association, who went on to be the co-chair of the anti-voucher campaign, All Kids First!, Judy Rosenberg of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)and now, Barbara Bonsignore of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) of Michigan. However, the true strength of CAP over the years has been its consistency as a coalition in opposing the use of public funds for non-public schools.

Arguments for parochiaid and its causes of political popularity over the years have, on the other hand, been less consistent. Initial support seemed to emanate largely out of concerns that Roman Catholic schools needed state support or they would all close. Catholic schools in Michigan, as elsewhere, were transitioning to the use of lay teachers around this time. The initial legislation introduced to provide public funds for nonpublic schools came from heavily Catholic Bay City and was sponsored by then State Representative Bob Traxler.

Although the Legislature was not successful, it caught the eye of Governor William G. Milliken, who was facing his first statewide election after having assumed office when Governor Romney joined the Nixon administration. Perhaps seeking support from Catholic Democrats for his election, the Governor proposed appropriating $22 million for each of two years to pay part of the salaries of private school lay teachers teaching secular subjects; in the third year, the funding was to be increased to cover 75% of their costs.

Despite having the support of the House Speaker, William Ryan, a Detroit Democrat with strong ties to both the Catholic Church and urban areas where parochial schools were more numerous, Governor Milliken's proposal ended up being more controversial than anticipated. CAP responded by starting a petition drive on behalf of a constitutional amendment to ban the use of public funds for non public schools. CAP was successful in getting signatures for the petitions and in passing the constitutional provisions in the General Elections held in 1970. Of the nearly 2.5 million votes cast, the anti-parochiaid amendment was adopted with a margin of 338,098 votes.