Detroit
NP.'474;g s
'
1994 LS400
*599*
• TRAC CONTROL
• MEMORY
• SUNROOF
• CD PLAYER
"MOP
1994 GS300
$489*
•
•
•
•
TRAC CONTROL
LEATHER
SUNROOF
SECURITY
SYSTEM
. 1994 ES300 Based on MSRP of $33,903. 1994 OS300 based on MSRP of $44.003. 1994 LS400 based on
MSRP of $55.303. 36 month closed end lease. 10% CAP reduction. 15.000 miles per year, 15c per mile In
excess of 45,000 miles. $500 refundable security deposit. Total obligation: OS300 $17,804. LS400 $21,564.
Plus 4% use taa. plittea. transfer fee. Customer retsponsibie Ion excess wear and tear. Option lo purchase:
GS300 $25.989.74. 1.3400 $31,522.71.
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TOOTHBRUSH fttiv
Education Reforms
Tested By Millage
LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER
avid Solomon graduated
from Southfield High
School in 1980. Looking
back, he says it was a
quality education — good
enough that he wanted to, and
now does, send his children
through the same system.
He fears the high caliber
might not be maintained.
Mr. Solomon's misgivings are
not unfounded.
If a "hold-harmless" millage
of 23.884 mills is not passed by
Southfield residents on April
D
18, per-
student fund-
ing will take a
dramatic dip.
"I have broad perspective
from all my years of living in
the city. This is the most criti-
cal millage I can recall," Mr.
Solomon said. "The state has
a stranglehold on the funding
of public education. The rules
have changed mid-game.
"We have big plans for the fu-
ture in Southfield. I don't know
what we'll be left with if this
millage doesn't pass."
Southfield and a handful of
other Michigan schools facing
millage votes will be the litmus
test for education reforms
pushed through last December
and the recently passed Pro-
posal A.
When Gov. John Engler and
the state legislature cut prop-
erty taxes last July, Michigan
schools were left with a $6.5-bil-
lion funding deficit. Proposal A
sought to recapture the mon-
ey lost through a sales-tax in-
crease.
While many in the commu-
nity balked over schools of
choice and vouchers last sum-
mer, the issue of dollars was
pushed aside. Michigan resi-
dents were asked to choose
what many called "the lesser of
two evils" — an income or sales
tax increase.
Southfield faces a crisis situ-
ation, unlike other districts, as
its millage ran out Dec. 31. In
order for Southfield to receive
the foundation grant of $6,500
per pupil promised by Lansing,
the district must have a local
millage authorization.
The city was hit extra hard
because only one-third of its
property is residential. Millage
rates are applied equally to
business and residential prop-
erty, but the business taxes that
used to help fund education
were also eliminated in the
property-tax cut.
Southfield currently spends
close to $9,400 per student and
in 1.992 passed a bond issue for
$50 million to use for comput-
ers and technology advance-
ments. That bond was backed
by 80 percent of those who vot-
ed.
"I can't conceive of a Kalkas-
ka situation here," said Kenson
Siver, director of information
services for Southfield Public
Schools, referring to the early
closing of schools in the north-
ern Michigan city due to lack of
funding. "We have a number of
committed parents who live in
this city specifically for the
schools.
"But these same parents are
frustrated too. Fm sympathet-
ic. They were told Proposal A
would fix everything. It won't.
It's not a tax cut, it's a tax shift."
In order to "fix everything,"
Southfield Public Schools is ask-
ing voters to approve the 20-
year "hold-harmless" millage.
If passed, the millage will cost
residents of an average home in
the area, valued at $80,000, an
additional $99 per month or
$1,195 per year. The prior prop-
erty tax cost the same average
household $1,380 per year.
When restructuring Michi-
gan's school finance laws, Lans-
ing made a provision allowing
the
41 dis-
tricts
spending
more than
the foundation
grant amount of
$6,500 per student
to levy additional
mills to maintain cur-
rent spending lev-
els. Southfield is
also seeking an
enhancement
millage of 3 mils
for three-years to fend off infla-
tion and other costs.
One mill equals $1 for every
$1,000 in assessment. Proper-
ty is assessed at half of its mar-
ket value.
Passage of the hold-harmless
millage would still result in a
lowered property tax for South-
field residents, from 34.5 to
29.88 mills. But denial of the
millage vote would drop South-
field's funding from an $80 mil-
lion budget to $30 million for
1994-95.
`The enhancement millage is
like the icing on the cake. The
critical piece for Southfield is
the hold-harmless. This is a
school program that over the
decades has taxed itself for bet-
ter programs. Now we need to
maintain it," Mr. Siver said.
Mr. Solomon agreed, adding,
"I think the voting attitude will
switch from pocketbooks to chil-
dren when people understand
what is at stake." LI
(