MNORITY page 17

volves meeting together to study
the issues and plan strategy, net-
working with other voucher sup-
porters and going on fact-finding
missions around the country to
observe pilot voucher programs
and meet with national leaders.
This week, Rev. Edwards and
Rabbi Freedman joined 30 other
Michigan black and Jewish lead-
ers on a trip to New York City to
meet with Rep. Floyd Flake (D-
NY), a black congressman who
advocates school vouchers.
Last week, black and Jewish
voucher proponents from around
the country participated in a
Capitol Hill hearing and press
conference on the subject.
Rev. Edwards and Rabbi
Freedman each arrived at his
support of vouchers through ex-
perience within his own world. As
former executive director of Yeshi-
va Beth Yehudah, Rabbi Freed-
man saw the strain on many
families struggling to make tu-
ition payments and felt school
vouchers would promote Jewish
continuity by enabling more Jew-
ish families to enroll in day
schools. Now, he says, his views
have more to do with social jus-
tice than with self-interest for his
community.
As president of a youth-orient-
ed agency, Rev. Edwards en-
countered countless families

frustrated with troubled public
schools and the lack of educa-
tional options available to them.
In an attempt to improve oppor-
tunities for youngsters, Joy of Je-
sus started its own elementary
school in 1987, which Rev. Ed-
wards believes has been far more
successful than local public
schools.
"We realized that with small
class size and a good curriculum,
it didn't matter what home en-
vironment these kids came from,"
he said. "We found ourselves be-
ing accountable to the parents for
the results of these youngsters.
Now you compare that to the pub-
lic school system, and it's just the
opposite: There's no real ac-
countability to the community,
the class size is too big and teach-
ers are more involved with secu-
rity than they are with teaching."
What clinched it for Rev. Ed-
wards was when a woman came
to him in tears, wanting to enroll
her child at his school. "She had
this bright young child that was
5, and she [had] sent him to the
public school. And she said, 'He's
9 years old now and last week the
police brought him home.'
"She said, 'I don't know what
they [the schools] did to my son,
but I can't let them continue to do

Both Rev. Edwards and Rabbi

Freedman argue they are not out
to destroy the public school sys-
tem. Instead, they believe school
vouchers will drive improvements
within the system, by bringing
greater competition and forcing
accountability.
"Vouchers aren't a cure-all for
society's problems," said Rabbi
Freedman. "But there's a chance
that if the parents have choices
to pull their kids out of a school
and take their dollars elsewhere,
it creates a whole new respon-
siveness. Empower the parents
and they'll force better education."

"On the Jewish
Community Council I
might be to the far
right, but not in the
mainstream Jewish
community."

—Rabbi Freedman

In response to their critics who
propose improving the public ed-
ucation system rather than pro-
moting alternatives, Rabbi
Freedman and Rev. Edwards say
entrenched interests like teach-
ers' unions and change-resistant

administrators make change from
within the system almost impos-
sible.
"I've been involved in several
attempts to change the [public
school] system," said Rev. Ed-
wards. "Right now I'm involved in
an attempt to change the system
through an Annenberg grant. I
haven't said wipe it out. I still
want to do whatever I can to help
the system. But in the meantime,
we're losing too many youngsters."
Neither leader is worried his
unorthodox position will make
him a pariah within his own com-
munity. In fact, both question how
representative of their communi-
ties black and Jewish umbrella
organizations really are. Rabbi
Freedman and Rev. Edwards be-
lieve there is considerable support
for vouchers within their respec-
tive communities — it just has not
been organized.
"On the Jewish Community
Council I might be to the far right,
but not in the mainstream Jew-
ish community," said Rabbi Freed-
man. "Even [in the JCCouncil]
you're not a pariah if you say day
school parents are entitled to fed-
eral assistance for tuition."
Rev. Edwards feels main-
stream civil rights organizations
like the Detroit Urban League
and NAACP are letting political
concerns cloud their judgment.

"There are two things that are
causing [NAACP and the Urban
League] to make their decision
[opposing vouchers]," he said.
"One, they really don't know the
facts ... Secondly, they have to ac-
count for the political system that
supports them."
Rabbi Freedman and Rev. Ed-
wards are confident that as dis-
satisfaction with the-status quo
grows and voucher supporters
are mobilized, vouchers will be-
come national policy in the next
few years.
Nonetheless, voucher oppo-
nents within both communities
are skeptical and are mobilizing
campaigns to stop vouchers.
Michael Lieberman, counsel
for the Anti-Defamation League's
Washington office, said the social
justice pitch by voucher advocates
represents "a false and simplis-
tic equation."
Voucher programs, he said,
"are akin to battlefield triage: you
try to save a few and forget about
the rest. That's what voucher pro-
grams are really about. You
might be able to save a few from
`dysfunctional' schools with this
$2,500 scholarship, but what
about everybody else? Will those
remain better served?"

❑

Washington correspondent James
Besser contributed to this article.

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