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IZAK GRACY

continued from page 10

ABOVE: Straus pinpoints
her son in an old
yearbook for a story on
education in Detroit in
the JN last December.
RIGHT: Campaign flier
for Straus’ run for WSU
Board of Governors. After
thinking she had won,
a recount caused her to
lose the election.

tion stipulated in the federal
Constitution.
Michigan voters have rejected
school vouchers three times,
she says, voting against them
with strong majorities in 1970,
1978 and 2000. The use of public
funds for parochial and private
education is prohibited by the
Michigan Constitution and
vouchers have been defeated in
other states as well, Straus points
out.

Straus considers her greatest achievement to be her
“consistent support for public education.”

destructive in Michigan,” Straus
says. “Eighty percent of the
charters in Michigan are run by
for-profit companies — much
higher than other parts of the
country. Only a handful are
better than the regular public
schools that have the majority of
special education students, who
are the most expensive to edu-
cate. There are about 100 char-
ters in Detroit and 97 real public
schools,” she says.

12

February 16 • 2017

jn

In addition, Straus is worried
about DeVos’ record as a strong
supporter of school vouchers,
which would allow parents to
use a set amount of state funds
per child to purchase education
in a public (charter or tradition-
al), parochial or private school.
Straus points out that good pri-
vate schools cost more than the
amount provided by vouchers;
she views them as a violation of
church and state — a separa-

EARLY TRAILBLAZER
Straus is familiar with public
education as a student, parent
and teacher.
She was born in New York and
graduated from Hunter College,
one of the oldest public institu-
tions in the country, with a major
in economics. Initially, she fol-
lowed a common path for young
women of that era — teaching
(in the South Bronx) while living
with her parents.
But she decided to pursue
an interest in government and
soon took a job at the Treasury
Department in Washington,
D.C. After her marriage to
Everett Straus, an economist
who accepted a position at the

Detroit Cigar Company, they
moved to Detroit.
Like many other young Jewish
couples during the 1950s and
’60s, they lived in Northwest
Detroit. Straus became presi-
dent of the PTA at Schulze
Elementary School, where her
two children attended school,
and active in the city-wide PTA.
She joined the Detroit chapter
of the League of Women Voters,
becoming its president and later
serving on its state board. Straus
said the League was then an
“outlet for women,” but also a
force for better government.
The League thought the state
constitution needed updating,
she says, and Straus participated
in the Michigan Constitutional
Convention that altered the
document in major ways.
During the 1950s, she vol-
unteered for several millage
campaigns to support the
Detroit Public Schools. In 1967,
her husband died suddenly on
Thanksgiving. Straus needed to
work and began a career in gov-
ernment and civic affairs.
She served as assistant
director of the Community
Renewal Commission dur-
ing Detroit Mayor Jerome
Cavanagh’s administration
and co-chaired his re-election
campaign. After his second
term ended, she worked at
Southeastern Michigan Council
of Governments (SEMCOG).
However, she continued to be
an active voice for public educa-
tion as a member of the educa-
tion committee of New Detroit
Inc., an influential urban coali-
tion, and was named to a special
task force on school finance,
chaired by civic leaders.
During the 1970s, a contro-
versial Detroit school desegrega-
tion case was decided with a
U.S. District Court ruling that
students would be bused to
schools outside their neighbor-
hoods to achieve desegregation.
Other cities experienced violence
after similar court orders, and
local leaders feared the same in
Detroit.
The business community and
UAW joined together to fund
and organize a coalition for safe
schools — PRO Detroit. Straus
was chosen to lead government
agencies, school officials, par-
ents, unions and community
organizations to prevent vio-
lence, and “it worked,” she says.

