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By JENNIFER VAN DOREN
LANSING (Capital N Suvice)
- The refinancing of public
chools is on the forefront of
every educator's mind since the
elimination of property taxes for
school funding in August.
Then, there ere no plans as
to how chools would be funded.
Now there are plans circulating
the Capitol that included a
handful of other taxes and
countless other rules, regula­
tions and stipulations.
For areas with both smaller
and larger school districts, ques­
tions as to what what the out­
come will be are especially
important.
While both spectrums of size
have similar concerns and opin­
ions on what has come out of
Lansing, they have differing be­
liefs as to how solutions devised
at the Capitol will bring them
individual answers.
LUDINGTON SCHOOL
districts serves 2,715 students,
spends about $4,984 per pupil
and is considered "out of for­
mula" and does not receive state
aid. Neighboring Free Soil only
serves 207 students and spends
about $3,723 for each of them.
Free Soil is considered "in for­
mula" and therefore receives
state aid.
But both these districts see
many of the same problems and
. benefits with what has been pro­
posed to solve the school finance
puzzle.
"In many cases I have to give
the Legislature the benefit of the
doubt," said Ludington Superin-
BOTH LITES and Ford said
they thought allowing students
to choose which school they at­
tended was a good idea. But
charter schools, special educa­
tional alternatives set up by pri­
vate enterprise, presented some
problems. There would need to
be an "even playing field" that
both charter schools and regular
schools would have to adhere to,
each said.
Ford cited concerns with
Wayne State Junior High, a kind
of charter school that has 300
students. Ford said he was con­
cerned that none of the students
. there were special education
students.
If charter schools didn't have
to offer driver's education, cer­
tain core curriculum classes, or
special classes - like those in
special education - that would
give an unfair advantage to
charter schools, over regular
public chools, Ford said
One of the ideas in reform
plans includes having schools
share resources, an idea that
both Ford and Lites said they
already do.
Two new
Blac mayors,
but ew trends
By BART ORBAN
Sp!c�I to the MIchIgan CitIzen
tm
c
"We don't dismiss charges on request of vic­
tims," Bowie said.
Both Pasula and Bowie said they do not believe
that mandatory prosecutions would discourage
victims from calling police.
"Victims are not thinking at that time about
the future," Bowie said. "They need help at the
moment."
Pasula agrees.
"Most people ar Calling immediately out of
fear or need," she �id.
HP Lions Club Luncheon
tendent Jim Ford. "School fi­
nancing is complicated, some
legislato are doing the best job
they can, but don't really under­
stand what is really going on If
they don't know what is going on
with us, they really don't get the
whole picture."
For the malt part, Ford said
he agreed with what Gov. John
Engler has proposed to finance
public education. Free Soil Su-
perintendent Stephen Lites Election results:
agreed and said that some of
Engler's plans were good.
"I just think that property
taxes had gotten way out of kil­
ter," Lites said. "Refinancing
(school districts) could have a
bigger impact en larger more
than smaller districts. Small dis- WASHINGTON. DC- The recent
tricts like Free Soil may actually . off-year elections in cities and
come out better than larger ones states around the nation pro­
on this deal." duced tW9 new Black mayors of
major cities, but showed no strong
political trends.
Fonner Urban League Direc­
tor Bill Johnson was elected the -
first Black mayor of Rochester,
New York and city oouncil presi­
dent Sharon Sayles Belton be­
came the first Black mayor of
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Meanwhile, Hartford, Con­
necticut's first Black mayor, Car­
rie Saxton Perry lost to white
former fire fighter Michael Pe­
ters.
In Detroit, state supreme court
justice, Dennis Archer, won a race
to replace the departing Coleman
Young.
And, in Atlanta, Martin­
Luther King, TII- son of the fa­
mous civil rights leader- was up­
set by white lawyer Mitch
Skandalakis to head the Fulton
County Commission.
(I-r) 'Bob Harrle, third vice president of th Highland Park Lions Club; Orange Field ,pr ldent
of the HP Lion Club; and Helen Carter. Roscoe ·Jone and William J. Whit ar member of
the Lions ClUb. All attended a luncheon and a me tlng at the I Am Supperclub on Hamilton
In Highland Park, MI. (photo by Cr.1g Hili)
at
P rl,·. • PI , .', (·1 ..
TIl' tall.
Ages 3-up .
15" tall.
Ages 4-up.
Batten
olicy tries to
o ic violet
LANSING (Capital Newa Service) - The suooess of a
tough new domestic violence policy in Kalamazoo
County may encourage similar action throughout
the state.
The policy, begun last June, prosecutes offend­
ers wh ther the victim wants to-press charges or
not and immediately jails anyone arrested at the
scene of domestic violence.
"Sometimes we do that here," said Berrien
County Prosecutor �.la Pasula, �Depending ,PROGRAM DESIGNERS IN' Kalamazoo
on the �ture of the injuries we sometimes st�unty acknowledge that it's too ly to tell
f<;>rwa:cI. Kalamazoo �unty has n p�- whether the policy will bring long-term ults, a
tlo� increase from 137 in 1992 to 560 �his year concern also voiced by Robert C. Trojanowicz,
?urmg the first four months of the policy - an professor of criminal justice at Michigan State
m� of 300 percent. . U niv rsity and director of the National Center for
Berrien County has prosecuted 404 dom tic Community Policing.
assaults in the ��t six months _o� t}u� year. 'J:!l "Tb statis ics look good in Kalamazoo, but I
county allows .VlctmlB to file a citizen s oomplall�t don't think they will be as positive a year from
which the PO�lce. can use to arrest an offender If now," Trojanowicz id.
deemed appropnate. He cited causes of dom tic violence such as
alcoholism and unemployment that require social
solutions, no criminal justice ones, as reasonsjor
his kep icism.
Beam of th complex nature of th prob-
lems and their connection to frequent abuse, Tro­
ja nowicz id h liev the policy will help deter
infrequent ab rs but n the habitual offenders.
"But at I t this policy says we are getting
rious ut it, � he id,
MANY VICTIMS NEED help at th time
they call police but after th situation is under
control are reluctant to prosecute because th y'
fear retaliation, said Marilyn Bowie, a victim
advocate for Berrien County.
Bowie said sh thinks mandatory prosecutions
ar a good idea because it takes th pr ure off
victims - they cannot choose to prosecute and
th fore canno threatened by offenders. She
emphasiz that the county now d it.
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