6 MONTH CD
MULLER from page
30
and culture is a large part of that.
You cannot teach about Judaism in -
Western civilization without an hon-
est and thorough discussion of the
Holocaust.
Q2 The people of the state of
Michigan, on two separate
occasions, have made it clear that
they oppose this approach. People
are frustrated with the pace of educa-
tional reform and advancement and
this seems like an easy way to jump-
start reform, cloaked in a veil of
increased parental control and free-
dom of choice. But in reality, like
the HMOs in medicine, I fear that
vouchers will not live up to this real-
ity. The freedom of choice will only
truly exist for a limited few. Reform
will be mired in the morass of
shrinking funds as a fixed amount is
spread over more venues.
Private schools will not appreciate
the increased intrusion that public
monies will bring so the monies can
be accounted for. Do private schools
really want to be included in the
current mode of testing, for this
only will be fair to the public
schools? The staff at Birmingham
Public Schools has shown themselves
to be on the cutting edge of many
reforms but vouchers may stifle
those efforts as it shunts time and
resources down avenues that will
have questionable results.
from page 30
is committed to teach, there just isn't
enough time to expand on the topic.
RINSCHLER
Yes, I oppose the voucher pro-
Q2 posal. This proposal, if
approved, will delete language from
our constitution, which would allow
public tax dollars to be spent on reli-
gious and private institutions. In
those states in which the voucher
system presently exists, there is no
proof that they improve student per-
formance. Vouchers will create a new
bureaucracy and likely lead to tax
increases and draining dollars from
public education.
Private and religious schools will
not have to provide information on
how they spend your tax dollars, nor
do they have to publicly report what
they teach, how they teach or how
their students perform. The voucher
only provides a portion of the tuition
to most private and religious schools
that have the option to decide which
students they want to accept.
from page 30
in arguably one of the wealthiest dis-
tricts in the state. The district boasts
7,572 students. They attend 14
schools, serving kindergarten
through 12th grade, all supported
with a budget of almost $148 mil-
lion. Educationally, the district's stu-
dents have achieved some of the
highest MEAP score averages in the
state.
"In our area, we are often close to
the top, if not at the top," said Dr.
Sandra Schwartz, the assessment and
reading coordinator for the
Birmingham Public Schools.
At least one candidate cites the
high MEAP averages as the reason
that more Holocaust education can-
not be included in the current cur-
riculum. Daniel Share, current
school board president, said test-
preparation requirements squeeze out
extra time for such a pursuit.
"Ideally, the Birmingham Public
Schools would devote a greater por-
tion of the core curriculum to
Holocaust studies, but the need to
cover the subjects on the MEAP tests
limits available class time," he wrote
in his response to a Jewish News
questionnaire.
Geraldine Rinschler, current secre-
tary for the Birmingham Board of
Education, said the current curricu-
lum starts in third grade and infil-
trates different subject areas — from
a popular literature class at Groves
High School to history classes at all
grade levels, from cultural-awareness
classes to global-issues segments.
"Is this extensive enough? No, but
in light of the cast material which
our district is committed to teach,
there just isn't enough time to
expand on the topic," she said in her
response.
School vouchers, a hot issue for
years that has been voted down twice
in Michigan's general elections, once
again is surfacing as a topic of debate
in Birmingham. However, all three
candidates in the school board elec-
tion agree that vouchers would set
back public school educatiori.
"There is no question that reform
and change is necessary to better
serve our children," said Peter T
Muller, the challenger. "The staff at
Birmingham Public Schools has
shown themselves to be on the cut-
ting edge of many reforms," he said,
"but vouchers may stifle those efforts
as it shunts time and resources down
avenues that have questionable
results." ❑
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