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ing
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Capitlll News Service ...
LA SING- How much
money does it take to asure a
" quality education?
According to state averages,
$3,367 was spent during the
1986-87 chool year on each
public schoohtudent
But this is an average and
raises the question: Do those
districts that spend, say, $2,500
per student offer the same
quality of education as districts
that pend $7,200 per student?
. Figures from the State
Department of Education indi­
cate that during the 1986-87
school year Kingsley Area
Schools near Traverse City
spent only $2,028 pet student
hile Paradise's WhitefISh
School District in the Upper
Peninsula pent $6,946 and in
the 1987-88 school year a total
of $8,164 per student These
twoscbooldistricts the ex­
treme high and low amount of
per pupil expenditure I the
state.
To equalize the quality of
education througbout
Michigan, the Michigan Educa-
tion Association (MEA) fa�rs
the proposed half-cent sales tax
increase that would briug up to
$400 million into the state
school system if passed,
The MEA is the state
largest teachers union, with
more than 100,000 members
working' in 580 of the states
educational institutes.
Beverly Wolko , esecative
director of the � said her
organization would like to see
these funds from the tax in­
crease distributed in a way that
would send an increased
amount of money to school dis­
triCts according to the number
of students enrolled,
I "Theone(formula)Vt'ewould Wolkom said the MFA fee
upport would be a per pupil equaljzing funding for schoo
basic grant formula," Wolkow d bringing more money into
said "Our goal would be that the schools are importan steps
for every student, the district in eq�ali�ing .th� quality of
would have the ability to spend education m Michigan.
a b !cgrant.ofabout $3�.". But the question still
Distrlbuting �ds In this remains: How "much equality is
manner would increase the I there between a school with a
amount of money spent on stu-. "
de ts i I d b ch I computer In every classroom
D In rurai-an ur an s 00 ..r _L I th ' ffo d
districts by $350 each. . =�? scnoo at can tar
Opponents say a tax increase
isn't necessary for school fund-
mg.
"We don't need a tax ina-ease
to bring more mOney into the
schools," said Senate Majority
Leader John M. Engler, R- Mt
Pie ant. ·Wo need to set
education as a higher priority .•
Engler said .if elected offi­
cials kept the campaign
promises they made, there
would never be a need or addi­
tional funding for education.
Engler said by setting educa­
tion as higher priority, the -
Iqislature may be able to close
the e cation funding gap by
bringing up those schoo . at the.
bottom.
Unequal school funding in Michigan
. I the 1986-87 bool year the ealthicst school di arict in
. ia spen about $6,946 per student while the pocRst district
about $2,028. The Michi Ed . Association like
for each school di uict 10 be able to spcn(I $3.300 per studeilt
each year.
Under 'new
:no re use
bill,' hospitals 'could
rea ment of poor
By ·m rly ls
Capital News Service
LA SING ..:_ Emergency
I rooms would n t be permitted
'to turn away poor patients
under re-introduced House
legislation, but Benton Harbor
and Highland Park hospitals o�f
ficials said it would have little ef­
fect on them.
Rep. Floyd Clack, a Flint
Democrat, has re-introduced
legislation that would not per­
mit emergency room employees
to turn away prospective
patient simply because of lac of
money or medical insurance.
The House bill ould require a
medical crecning before the
person could be eot away. In
Highland Park,
Benton Harbor
officials see
. .
little change
addition, the bill requires that if
a person needs to be transferred
to another h spit a) the pat ien
would first have to be stabilized.
Clac said the legislation. is
necessary because there have
been reports of everly injur d
people driving from one hospi­
tal to another before receiving
medical help.
There have even been cases
of patients already receiving At Highland Park's Detroit
emergency treatment being Osteopathic Ho pital, the only
turned out of the h pita I with rca on patient are turned away
tubes and catheters still at- is the emergency room is not
lached when it wru discovered full-staffed, sia Harper We t,
they didn't have insurance director of marketing and
coverage," Clack said. . public relations .. However
But ho pital of�cials in Ben- patients are not just sent away:
ton Harbor and Highland Park she said. They arc stabalized
�ay .tha� is not the at e in their and another hospital is recom-
msntuuons. .. mended, she siad.
At Mer<.� Hospital m Benton "I'm hopeful all the hospitals
Harbor paucnts are not turned in the area will continue to treat
a�ay. but the l-for-pro�l .in- patients no matter what their
statuti n 10. e about $1.6 million financial tatus is," West said.
yearly because of patients who Although West said she is
can't pay, . iad Lc lie Gilreath, concerned that cveryone
director. of marketing. receive proper medical care,
"We feel that that is part of tre ting people unable to pay
our mission to the community," may hurt hospital care in the
Gilreath said. long run.
REP. "'LOYD CL
K
La
I
a ers vo
Youth Corps cuts WOIJ't pass Hou e
8yJoh Jo
Capital News Service.
LA I G _. Gov. James
Blanchard and legislator in the
House and Senate are confident
that the proposed $22 million
cut to the Michigan Youth
Corps' budget will not pass the
Hou .
The budget cut bill, which
passed the Senate on April 13,
ould reappropriate 84 percent
of the Youth Corps' 1990
budget to a uppOrtive-employ­
ment program in the Depart­
ment of ental Health.
"I hope that wo Idn't hap­
pen," Rep. Joseph Young Jr., D-
Detroit, said. "In urban areas,
(the Youth Corps) addresses a
multitude of problems, includ­
ing 10 literacy r tes. It's more
than just an emphasi on skills;
it te ches young people to be
constuctive and productive
citizens."
The Youth Corps i designed
to giv young people, especially
in poor and urban areas, mean­
ingful ork and to help them
find other opportunities when
they leave.
If t e proposed budget pas­
ses, th money would be shifted
to the supportive-employment
program, which is designed to
integrate peop from mental
f\
health boards and intermediate
school districts into the work
force.
"Gov. Blanchard does not
support the cut," an aide to the
governor said. "The Michi n
Youth Corps is one of "the
governor's top priorities for
d vclopmcnt of the state."
Blanchard recommends that
the MYC budget be maintained
at the present level of $25 mil­
li n in order to meet the job
demand for young people.
"Detroit and Benton Harbor
are two of the target areas of
Youth Corps ctivity," said Bill
Ca tanier, director of public af­
fairs in the Department of
. Labor, which houses the Youth
Corps. "The proposed � mil­
lion budget is just not wor able;
d mand is 10 times that."
en. Doug Cruce, R-Troy,
who is heading the Youth Corps
cut proposal contends that the
Youth Corps was started in 1983
when ichigan was in bad
economic time . We're not in
bad economic times anymore
a d many people have com­
plained that the Youth Corps
ta ke jobs away from un-
employed peop . .
The Youth Corps employed
20,000 young people in 1988 and
plans the same number for 1989,
but if the proposed cut is in-
itiated, Castanier aid they will
only be abl to employ 3.
Castainer said the propo ed
$3 million budget is not even
enough to support the program
in the Detroit area, not to men­
tion other high youth unemploy­
ment areas like Benton Harbor.
"(The cut) would rule out a
'10 of opportunities for a Jot of
kids," Rep. Lad S. t cey, R­
Berrien Springs, wh district
includes Benton Harbor, said.
"That bill will not get through
the House."
The budget is in committee
hearings, after whic , it will go
before the full Ho se for
amendment, debate and a vote.