Council of Organizations and Others for Education About Parochiaid

HISTORY OF COUNCIL ABOUT PAROCHIAD - PAGE 3 The most recent electoral challenge to CAP's chief goal came with the Proposal 00-1 Ballot proposal in the General Election of 2000. Proponents of Proposal 00-1 attempted to sell their proposal as "pro-child" as the name "Kids First! Yes!" suggested. While the early efforts to pass parochiaid appeared mostly driven by institutions that were seeking funding to sustain their current mission, the driving support for "Kids First! Yes!" seemed more ideological in nature. Possibly for that reason, the campaign fared far less well in urban areas than anticipated by many political commentators. For instance, in Detroit, with numerous Catholic Schools, the vote was 48,024 for Proposal 00-1 and 219,862 against it with a total of 267,886 people voting. The final outcome was again a success for supporters of separation of church and state, with only 1,235,533 votes for the measure statewide, and 2,767,320 against from the 4,002,853 votes cast. CAP's role in the measure was to be the base from which the campaign began. The leadership of CAP provided core leadership for the campaign organization, which benefited enormously from the support of a long-standing coalition of individuals and organizations. The anti-Proposal 00-1 Campaign was a separate organization, seeking to defeat the proposition on behalf of "All Kids First."

As the history indicates, CAP has had certain time periods in which opponents of public funds for private education face serious challenges. During the "down" times, however, members of CAP continue to meet to monitor legislation, lawsuits, and the political scene. CAP had, for example, initiated related litigation against the Noah Webster Charter Academy in 1994-5. CAP firmly believes it is in the interest of its cause to maintain an ongoing coalition that can quickly spring into action whenever challenges arise, even though the nature of the challenges may vary over time.

Sources of information:

Council of Organizations and Others for Education About Parochiaid. Background on Vouchers and Parochiaid. 1978.
Council of Organizations and Others for Education About Parochiaid. 1995.
Longstaff, Robert H. Public Sector Consultants, Inc. Public Money for Private Education: the Ghost of 1970. Lansing, 1993.
Welburn, Dan Parochiaid in Michigan: 1960 to present, Michigan Council About Parochiaid. 1978.
www.michigan.gov/sos "2000 Official Michigan General Election Results State Proposal 00-1: To Permit the State to Indirectly Support Nonpublic School Students" (3 June 2002).