The Bill

Stops Here

Jewish school parents say
tuition tax credits would not
change enrollment decisions.

LONNY GOLDSMITH

Staff Writer

R

ichard Rosenbaum, whose
13-year-old son Eric is a
seventh-grader at Hillel
Day School, says it is not
up to the government to underwrite
sending children to private school. "I
chose to send my son here and I have
to bite the bullet," said Rosenbaum.
"Sending him here means sacrificing
other things."
Julie Schlafer disagrees. "The whole
point of Jewish schools is to make them
open to the community. I know people
who want to come here but can't get
assistance and would be helped by that."
The views of Rosenbaum and
Schlafer were two of the varied opin-

ions given in Hillel's parking lot at
dismissal last Friday about tuition tax
credit proposals.
A proposed amendment to the
Michigan Constitution would give
parents of children in private schools a
$2,800 tax credit, which would go
toward private school tuition, either
secular or religious.
Rosenbaum, who lives in
Bloomfield Hills, hasn't decided
whether his son will go to a public or
private high school. In any event, he
said, $2,800 wouldn't make much of a
dent in the tuition of local private
schools such as Country Day,
Cranbrook-Kingswood and Roeper.
However, it could help at Hillel,
"where tuition ranges from $6,900 to
$7,500.

"I don't want money back," he said,
"I want to fix what's broken, and that's
the schools."
Schlafer, mother of two Hillel stu-
dents, thinks the tax credit is a "fabu-
lous idea."
"I haven't given a thought to the
public schools," she said. "They'll
have to find a way to keep at the
level they are at."

According to Scott Cranis, the
administrative director at Hillel, nei-
ther the school nor the national orga-
nization to which it belongs has a
position on vouchers or tax credits.
But historically, the United Synagogue
for Conservative Judaism has been
against them.
"United Synagogue has got been in
favor of anything that would allow

Choice

Court decision buoys supporters of state aid to private, parochial schools.

LONNY GOLDSMITH

Staff Writer

Ike

recent decision by the U. S.
Supreme Court, coupled
with the Nov. 3 voting that
nhanced Republican con-
trol of the Michigan Legislature, has
given new life to a drive for a state sub-
sidy of private and parochial schools.
Advocates of a measure that would
give parents a tax credit for tuition are
pushing a state constitutional amend-
ment that would be on the ballot in
the November 2000 general election.
The measure would save taxpayers
with children in kindergarten through
twelfth grade $2,800 if they send their
kids to parochial or non-parochial pri-
vate schools, including Jewish day
schools.

11/20
1998

6 Detroit Jewish News

The effort is sparked in part by a
Supreme Court decision earlier this
month not to hear arguments against
a Wisconsin plan that provides vouch-
ers to help low-income students
attend schools of their choice, includ-
ing religiously affiliated ones in
Milwaukee. The argument against that
plan is that allowing government
funds to go to a parochial school vio-
lates the First Amendment mandate
for church-state separation.
Gary Glenn, president of School
Choice YES!, the organization that is
trying to get the amendment onto the
ballot, says the tuition tax credit would
not violate the mandate because gov-
ernment funds would not be appropri-
ated directly for the schooling. Letting
parents take the tax credit would
diminish state revenues overall, but, he

said, the process would meet
constitutional tests because
the individual parents rather
than the Legislature would
be making the decision on
whether to apply for the
Kathleen Straus is presi- School Choice Yes! is
credit.
dent of the Michigan
headed by Gary Glenn.
"No matter the race or
Board of Education.
income of a family, they
should be empowered to
11 in the- state Senate, have pledged to
choose a safer school for their child,"
support
a tuition tax credit amend-
Glenn said. "It's the duty of the
ment
to
the state constitution.
United States Supreme Court to
Kathleen
Straus, president of the
uphold the constitution. If it's a viola-
Michigan
State
Board of Education,
tion of the First Amendment, I can't
says
the
School
Choice
YES! proposal
believe that eight justices would stand
is
unconstitutional
and
won't benefit
aside."
the
people
it
claims
to
help.
School Choice YES! Representatives
"It's a benefit to the people who
say that eight of 10 Republicans elect-
already
have kids in private schools
ed to leadership positions in the state
because you have to pay taxes to get a
House of Representatives, and 10 of

