Jewish groups keep close eye on school-voucher measures

WASHINGTON -- California and Michigan are not just high-stakes states for presidential hopefuls.

They also have school-voucher ballot initiatives -- which Jewish groups, teachers and education reformers are all watching closely.

"The school-choice movement has had a hard time coming together to push nationally," said Dane Waters, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational resource organization, based in Washington. "Passage in either state will definitely bring the movement together."

Vouchers would give public funds to parents who choose to send their children to private or parochial schools.

The voucher issue, which opponents say violates the separation between church and state, is one of several ballot measures of interest to Jewish voters this season.

A handful of initiatives deal with the civil rights of gays and lesbians and restrictions on abortion. According to a poll by Zogby International conducted between Dec. 14, 1999 and Feb. 7, 2000, 61 percent of Jews are pro-choice on abortion.

Jews are more divided over vouchers.

Some see them as a possible way of making Jewish education more affordable.

Others believe that vouchers unconstitutionally direct state money to religious purposes. Voucher programs have been enacted in Milwaukee, Cleveland, Florida and Maine.

The Ohio Supreme Court struck down the Cleveland system last year, citing the separation of church and state, but the state legislature enacted a similar program the following June.

Unlike the Cleveland and Milwaukee programs, the Maine program has not allowed voucher money to go to religious schools.

State courts have heard challenges to each of the programs, but the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule directly on a voucher case.

In Michigan and California, groups on both sides of the issue are spending millions on their campaigns, said Waters, who calls vouchers "the No. 1 state issue."

In California, voters will be asked to approve a measure that would give every child a $4,000 school voucher at minimum.

The Michigan measure would offer $3,300 "opportunity scholarships" to students in school districts that graduate less than two-thirds of their students.

Both proposals claim to save their states money -- though opponents debate this -- as well as eventually improve conditions of the public schools.

Opponents argue that vouchers systems will give states less incentive to put time and resources into fixing ailing public schools.

An estimated $70 million will go into the California initiative, and another $30 million will be spent in Michigan.

Much of the money comes from teachers' unions committed to defeating the propositions, though the pro-voucher forces have their own big money backers. These include Amway President Dick DeVos and his wife, Betsy, in California, and billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper in Michigan.

If either measure passes, Waters expects it will be close.

"Vouchers are never successful at the ballot box," he said.

Though perhaps one of the most well-funded initiatives, the school voucher issue isn't the only one that is drawing attention this election season.

Initiatives to ban same-sex marriages await voters in Nebraska and Nevada. The measures are supported heavily by the Mormon and Catholic churches, which are hoping to chalk up victories in these conservative states, Waters said.

In Oregon, gay-rights activists have been campaigning against a proposition to ban the discussion of homosexuality in public schools.