4- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 12, 1993
be £siigjan&ilg
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan
JOSH DuBow
Editor in Chief
ANDREW LEVY
Editorial Page Editor
a
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board.
All other cartoons, articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
Shrp-a Tas' y i
e~r
,YI
Preservingin equaity
U Engler's school finance plan continues inequities
0i
L ast week, Governor John Engler unveiled his
- - plan for Michigan's school reform. This plan
had been anxiously awaited since July, when the
state legislature, with the governor's enthusiastic
signature, passed a bill eliminating property taxes
in Michigan and thereby cutting off all funding
for the state's public schools.
That Michigan's school system needs rework-
ing is unquestionable. The current system, which
uses local property taxes to fund local school
districts, is a bastion of inequality, providing ex-
cellent education in wealthy districts and gross
inadequacy in poor ones. However, the governor's
plan -which has more holes in it than a spaghetti
strainer - is not the kind of reform we need.
NEW FUNDING
First, the question of equal funding. It is true
that because the plan guarantees at least $4,500 per
pupil for every school, districts that currently spend
less than that would be helped by having their
funding brought up to this level. However, that is
only part of the story. Districts that now spend
between $4,500 and $6,500 would gain also, mean-
ing that there would still be a gap between richer
and poorer areas. Finally, Engler's plan would
allow the 35 districts that currently spend the most
per pupil-and only those districts-to levy local
property taxes to maintain funding at their current
levels, which often hover around nine or ten thou-
sand dollars. Therefore, although the poorest dis-
tricts in the state would gain in funding, there
would still be up to a $6,000 per-pupil gap between
areas that spend the most and those that spend the
least - a gap guaranteed by the fact that only the
wealthiest districts will be allowed to give their
schools extra money. This is a far cry from equal
educational opportunity for every Michigan child.
CHOICE
A second idea central to the Engler plan is that
of school choice. Our governor has the idea that
forcing schools to compete for students will some-
how automatically improve their quality. How-
ever, this idea is misguided in several ways. First,
if school choice were to work at all, it would have
to be cross-district, allowing students to choose
schools that offer facilities significantly better than
those in their home school. The Engler plan pro-
vides only for choice within districts, which would
be useless to many students. There are many small
towns in Michigan that contain only one middle or
high school, making the idea of "choice" laughable
because there are not even two schools from which
to choose. Choice is equally laughable in districts
like Detroit, where although there are several dif-
ferent schools, they all suffer from inadequate
funding and therefore all have the same glaring
lack of facilities. Some choice.
However, even if cross-district choice were
mandated, it would still result in unfairness to
Michigan students. The fundamental problem with
school choice - as well as with charter schools,
which would provide state-supported alternatives
to the public school system, is that it assumes there
are interested, informed parents. It assumes all
parents understand the system well enough -and
care enough - to investigate schools and send
their children to the best one available. Unfortu-
nately, this is a faulty assumption. Consequently, if
school choice were enacted, the "best" schools
Gov. John Engler announced his:
puli school fundinglost in
July's property4
tax cut last week.y Y.
Here is part
of his plan.
LI4
Cigarette Tax Sales Tax New Property
Raise tax 50 Raise sales tax Taxes
cents per to 6 percent Increase
pack. maybe 8 percent. business
Total: $380 Cost: $800 property tax.
million million Cost: $1 billion
would be the ones whose students had education-
ally savvy parents, while those children who are
less lucky would end up at the bottom of the barrel
once again.
PAYING FOR THE PLAN
And how are we to pay for all these reforms?
Engler's plan for replacing the property tax rev-
enue relies on several different sources, including
taxes on businesses, utilities and cigarettes. While
all of these are good ideas, the funding proposal
holds one glaring hole. An estimated $1.830 bil-
lion is slated to come from a two-percent increase
in the state sales tax, a proposal which must be
approved by the voters in order to take effect.
Michigan's citizens have a long history of reject-
ing sales tax increases, most recently this past June
when they turned down a two-percent increase that
would have gone toward school funding. With no
reason to suspect the outcome will be any different
this time, the legislature and the governor must
come up with an alternative plan, perhaps includ-
ing an income tax. Many politicians shy away from
income taxes, knowing how unpopular they are
with voters. Yet by making an income tax the
alternative to the sales tax increase, the legislature
would force voters to make a choice - and would
ensure, above all, that schools get the funding they
require.
Road
The moon glo
rear view mirror;
Michigan sky lay
behind me. On
the horizon wispy
gray jet trails
radiated out
perfectly from the
setting sun. I
wondered for a
moment why
there were so
many of them,
and then I
realized it:
O'Hare Airport l
the sun, sendig i
leave behind thei
arrows pointing t
urban sprawl that
Thus began m;
weekend, a ventu
mainly to visit mi
the University of
Qnly four months
back was a strang
going back to you
back to visit your
Maturity was<
agenda on this ro.
living with my pa
mother wouldn'tI
outside our town,
safety reasons (h(
supposed to acco,
going 55 mph on
Texas is beyondr
rode next to me,(
wedged a Slim Ji:
and unlocked it, a
mother could ima
scenario.) So this
farthest I'd ever d
when you're ima
psychokillers witl
next to you, this c
nervewracking.
Feeling like at
woman on the roa
soundtrack to The
but unfortunately
Ford Taurus throe
Twenge's column
Tuesday in the Dc
tripping through thi
wed softly in my doesn't compare with tooling
the dark blue around the open West in a
T Thunderbird convertible. I also
found out it's not a good idea to tap
your gas pedal foot to the music
Y while you're driving (tends to
confuse the cruise control, among
other things.) I even saw a few
trucks on the road ... the two I really
noticed were the truck carrying a
load of old cars, smashed to scrap
metal, followed by a truck with a
load of shiny new cars, straight,
from Detroit.
J n TDespite my feminist music,
geography forced me to commit the
ay directly under sin of entering Indiana. Sneaky
ts planes east to state, Indiana - they don't give
r trails, a dozen you a welcome sign or anything.
he way back to the (But what would it say, anyway?
is Chicago. "Indiana: Land of Dan Quayle."?)
y trip last Only the appearance of streetlights
re I undertook cues you in - suddenly you hit
y college friends at the industrial hell of Gary n o
Chicago. I had left Garysri eln and you
Chicgo. hadleft know the city is on its way.
ago, so going Before long the El train was
;e cross between whizzing next to me, the sparks
ur home and going - from the tracks lighting up the
old high school. darkness. On the platform above the
certainly on the street four guys in loose fitting
adtrip. When I was pants and Bulls jackets greeted each
rents in Texas, my other, and I smiled: I was home.
let me drive Visiting a campus surrounded by
supposedly for ghettoes does have its
w anyone was disadvantages, however. "Miss one
st me when I was exit," I was telling myself, "and
the reewy inyou'll end up like a German
me. I guess if they tourist." Of course I was so busy
opened their door, thinking this that I missed the exit;
m into my door despite my mother's fears that I
and ... only a would be accosted in suburban
igine such a Dallas, I made it through the South
trip was the Side okay ... all I really saw of
Iriven alone, and interest was a sign handpainted in
gining black on wood: "Need a handyman?
:h Slim Jims racing Will work."
can be pretty So I made it to the ivory tower
of campus; within a few minutes I
n independent had re-entered the life of a college
ad, I flipped on the dorm. I'd forgotten so much of it
elma and Louise, (cherish it while you can,
driving a maroon undergrads): the voices echoing in
ugh Michigan just the halls; the single beds; the
appears every friends sharing their problems; the
oily discussions of everything from
m
a
D Midwest
Plato to homosexuality; the small
rooms dominated by computers and
books.
One of my friends had the
quintessential college dilemma: he
didn't know if he could use the
bathroom on his floor because they
hadn't had their annual vote to
decide which bathrooms would be
co-ed. Last year, it seems, the men
and women used their co-ed
bathroom to its full advantage,
turning off the lights to show off
their glow-in-the-dark toothbrushes.
(I am not making thisup.) In
another bathroom discussion, they
decided to start a campaign to take
the directions off shampoo bottles
("You know, Lather. Rinse. Repeat.'
Before you know it you've washed
your hair 50 times. But seriously,
who doesn't know how to use
shampoo? I mean, really.")
Of course, a guy on this hall also
had the same brilliant idea of every
office wiseass: he'd photocopied his
hand giving the finger, and used it
as the cover for his collection of
pictures of women in various states
of undress. This was the other part
of college life to remember: the
immaturity; the rich kids who never
had to work; the dining hall food
and the dining hall hours; the
blissful realization that if anything
went wrong, you could always go
back home to your parents.
By Sunday I'd remembered
enough, and headed back to Ann
Arbor, playing - appropriately -.
the Talking Heads' "I'm on the
Road to Nowhere." Chicago is
definitely closer to the real world in
some ways, but going back to
college made me remember my age,
and remember the things I've grown
out of. I'm not quite ready to
relegate my undergraduate years to
those old smashed cars on the truck,
but the new models did look pretty *
appealing. No matter how my
mother still worries, I can make it
on my own, driving down the
highway with only the moon as my
companion.
The essence of Gandhi can be
seen through some of the principles
he held on to in his daily life and
urged his followers to do likewise.
The famous twelve vows of a
Gandhian consist of the following:
truth, Non-Violence, Chastity,
Control of the Palate, Non-
stealing, Non possession, Removal
of untouchability, Bread Labor,
Tolerance or Equality of religions,
Humility and Swadeshi (roughly
translated self-dependence). Out of
these principles Truth can be the *
sole goal of life synonymous with
the eternal or God.
But the realization of the
supreme Truth is not easy for
humans and hence the need for
Non-Violence. Thus Non-Violence
is the means to the goal of life
which is the realization of the Truth
in which lay Gandhi's personal
salvation. Non-violence or
'Ahimas' is better described by love
or universal love. To explain this
Gandhi says, the seeker of Truth
over the centuries have found it
much helpful to suffer the
difficulties created by other rather
0
In his speech last week, Gov. Engler called this a
"once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." On this point, at
least, he is correct. This is a chance for Michigan to
address the inequality that plagues its school system.
It is a chance to help the state's poorest children, who,
if anything, need extra funding to counter the effects
of this historic inequity. It is a chance to ensure that
each child in this state begins school on the same
financial footing, which, while not the solution to
their every problem, is a first step in equalizing other
kinds of footing.
The governor's plan does not do this. Rather, it
hides behind "choice" and "competition," ignoring
the vast social and financial obstacles to these ideals.
It does nothing to address the enormous quality gap
that exists between rich and poor districts. Ulti-
mately, Gov. Engler's plan seeks only to preserve the
shameful inequalities that characterize Michigan's
schools.
Michigan's children deserve better.
Cops should stop assault, not fun
Glimpses of 'GANDHI'
To the Daily:
The 2nd of October is a very
special day in the history of
mankind. For a big part of humanity
that still struggles for the basic
needs of day-to-day life, this is an
even more important day. One
hundred and twenty-three years
ago today, a very ordinary baby was
born in an unknown corner of
British India, who was named
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
Hardly anyone would have guessed
that this one of the many sons and
daughters that Kaba Gandhi had
fathered through his four
successive wives (Putilbai being
the last and mother of Gandhi),
would go on to become the
uncrowned king of millions of
human beings in many different
ways. Seventy-nine years later,
Albert Einstein would say in his
tribute, "Generations to come, it
maybe, will scarce believe that
such a one as this ever in flesh and
blood walked upon the face of the
earth."
wonder on Aug. 14-15, after India
had been partitioned into Pakistan
and India, and when both parties
were celebrating their independence
form the British on successive days,
Gandhi chose to mourn the occasion
for a variety of reason in the midst
of the city of Calcutta burning from
communal riots, It's is also not
without significance that he chose
to do so not under the newly
designed National flags of the states
of India or Pakistan, but under the
flag of the Congress party
symbolizing the poor and the
downtrodden through the symbol of
the spinning wheel.
A true man of action and
simplicity personified, Mahatma
Gandhi (Mahatma meaning the
great soul or the enlightened soul)
tirelessly worked toward his vision
of an Indian who can best
symbolize the Indian civilization,
thought and culture. This vision
included the public life he adopted
through which he hoped to serve
the millions while working for his
own spiritual upliftment. In this
goal he saw his nersonal salvation.
Last weekend, three University
of Wisconsin students were rushed
to St. Mary's Hospital as the result of
a fight near the corner of Henand
Gorham streets. About one block
away, Madison Police Officer Brian
Ackeret was busy ticketing under-
age drinkers on Langdon Street.
On this same night, a Madison
woman was kidnapped while walk-
ing away from a bar, forced into an
apartment and sexually assaulted near
m,-&I ..r% r..n..t n - a ..srw he..
By writing massive
tickets in a misguided
effort to live up to the
'Operation Sting'
tradtion police are
redirecting their
attention away from
their commitment to
providing assistance
and protection. The
citizens of Madison
holding alcoholic parties.
The consequences of failing to
realize this awareness cannot be over-
stated. Not only do students risk
physical injury on the streets of Madi-
son, but they also stand to lose thou-
sands of dollars in fines levied by
overzealous police officials.
In fact, a controversy surround-
ing this very issue led tot he resigna-
tion Wednesday of Interfraternity
Council President Dennis Lesak.UW