ditorials
Editorials and Letters to the Editor are posted and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.com
`No' On Vouchers
I is a mitzvah to want to help kids in failing
public schools have a better chance at a high-
quality education.
So we're not about to blast pro-voucher back-
ers, who have the best interests of schoolchildren at
heart. Their logic is skewed, however, since neighbor-
hood public schools are the bedrock of America.
Given that, we urge a "no" vote on Proposal 1 on
the Nov. 7 state ballot. Passage would amend the
state constitution to allow tuition vouchers, and
other forms of public aid, for students in districts
with poor graduation rates. Significantly, other dis-
tricts could adopt vouchers with a vote of the people
or the school board. That could throw many public
schools into turmoil and divert untold public dollars
into nonpublic school budgets.
With passage of Proposal 1, students with vouch-
ers, worth up to about $3,300 in taxpayer money,
could apply to a private or parochial school. The
school system left behind would most likely lose an
equal amount of money in state finding. In effect,
taxpayers already feeling strapped would have to
support both public and nonpublic schools.
Parochial schools accepting vouchers would be sub-
ject to state regulation, raising the issue of separating
church and state.
A limited number of students would benefit from
vouchers since nonpublic schools typically don't
accept all who apply. Voucher holders would still
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have to come up with the rest of the tuition plus
arrange transportation.
Meanwhile, what about the rest of the kids
caught in the updraft of a borderline school district,
the ones who want to learn but who can't take
advantage of a voucher? Do we look the other way?
A Birthright
Our public schools, open to everyone regardless of
family pedigree, are a national birthright. We must
stand together in improving the tottering ones.
At the moment, only seven Michigan school dis-
tricts qualify as failing. So the chance of Jewish day
schools gaining any voucher-holding students is
minimal. Still, it's possible that districts with a siz-
able Jewish enrollment could one day be considered
"failing." Jews also vote in greater percentages than
the general population. So there's a Jewish compo-
nent to this hottest of all election-season ballot
issues.
National studies show that Jewish day schools clear-
ly provide a base that strengthens Jewish identity and
encourages lifelong Jewish learning.
But many more Jews are enrolled in congregational
schools than day schools; in metro Detroit, the ratio is
3 to 1. And most afternoon-school students also attend
public school.
It was our public schools that educated most of
the Jewish immigrants who came from Europe pen-
niless but who, through perseverance and hard
work, helped build our major cities in the early 20th
century, including Detroit.
Going back to the turn of the last century, Jews have
a history of service and support to our public schools,
whatever the student makeup.
Schools vary from district to district. But collective-
ly, our public schools tend to reflect America in their
ethnic, academic, religious, athletic, socioeconomic and
special-needs diversity. They give everyone a chance to
be educated, contribute and achieve success.
Already Choices
Some districts already have a "school of choice" phi-
losophy by allowing students to choose which school
they want to attend, or by accepting tuition-paying
students from other districts. Charter schools, mag-
net schools and schools of choice open to students
of any district are other examples of "choice." These
options keep taxpayer dollars public.
Parents always have the choice to send their chil-
dren to nonpublic schools, but it shouldn't come at
taxpayer expense. Most nonpublic schools offer
scholarships based on need. For example, the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, through its Jew-
ish Life Funds, has beefed up its scholarship pro-
gram for the Jewish community's day, congregational
and supplemental schools.
Michigan is a great state. But we, as citizens, need
to rethink our priorities, stop the political tug-of-
war and cast steadying lifelines for sinking school
districts — not just for students lucky enough to
cash in a voucher. ❑
Breaking The Peace
IV
e are as guilty as all the others who
have been hoping since the Oslo
Accords of 1993 that Israel had a true
partner in peace. We were wrong, as
the awful events of the last two weeks have shown.
When push came to shove, Yasser Arafat and the
high command of the Palestinian Authority could
not walk on the path of valor and sank instead to
the lowest common denominator of hatred.
And the genie that has been loosed from the bot-
tle may never be recaptured. The rock-throwing
Arabs of the state-in-waiting, joined astonishingly
by the Palestinians living within Israel, have seared a
new image into the Israeli consciousness, an image
of a people who slap and stab at the hand of peace
that had been offered them.
A willingness to trust has died. All of the careful,
hard-fought progress bought in years of patient
negotiation has been cast aside. Israelis, however
much they have said they want peace, will not soon
be ready to turn over land to Palestinians who have
shown themselves committed to driving Israelis into
the sea. Jews may want peace, but not at any price.
We have warned before of the danger in the
Related story: page 6
Palestinians' anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic rhetoric,
repeated in their mass media and, most dangerously,
in textbooks. Now we have seen how a people
allowed this rhetoric to seize their hearts when their
leaders could not deliver on the unfulfillable promis-
es they made. (We disagree, by the way, with the
analysis of Daniel Pipes in an accompanying com-
mentary that the violence signals Palestinian tri-
umphalism; the Palestinian riots were born in frus-
tration and anger, not a happy sense of victory.)
A New Direction
Happily, as we went to press the physical violence
seems to be waning. As the one-sided death toll
climbed, perhaps Arab parents concluded that "mar-
tyrdom" was both a foolish and ineffective course
for their children. Now comes the aftermath and the
need for all sides to find a new way.
We wish we could be hopeful that the Palestini-
ans and their leaders would come to their senses and
begin a process of educating their people to the real-
ity of how the violence worsened their chances for a
state and for economic growth. But that is not like-
ly. So now is the time for other Arab countries and
their leaders to step forward, disavow the violence
and show the world that they can be responsible.
We wish also that the United Nations could
begin to play a leadership role and are glad to see
Secretary General Kofi Annan actively seeking the
release of the three IDF soldiers whom Hezbollah
kidnapped last week. But in view of the totally
unfair and unwarranted resolution that was pushed
through the Security Council to punish Israel for
alleged excessive violence against the rioters, there is
little reason for hope in that agency.
We hope that American Jews will show their soli-
darity with Israel first by showing up at the rallies that
are scheduled in the next few days but over the longer
term by continuing to work through their federations
and lobbying agencies to defend and strengthen the
American commitment to the Zionist state.
Finally, we pray that Israel will emerge from this
ordeal with a new passion for unity. This uprising
could be a catalyst to remind the extremists of all
stripes that their future depends on a strong, unified
country in which Jews will cooperate with other
Jews with respect and tolerance.
We continue to believe that peace is both neces-
sary and inevitable. It probably won't look much
like what was being discussed at Camp David, or at
least it won't any time soon. But if this violence
opens the door to a clear-eyed rethinking of the
needs of all sides, perhaps the deaths of the last two
weeks will not have been in vain.
❑
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