[Marxism] Detroit Proposal E is packed with local class contradictions

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

LOCAL 207 ORGANIZER
The Official Newsletter of AFSCME Local 207 - Issue 64, October 21, 2004
Phone: 313-965-1601         Pager: 313-796-3376         Email:
afscme207@xxxxxxxxxxxxx        Website: www.afscme207.com

E is Evil - Vote NO on E on November 2nd!
Put the People of Detroit Back In Full Control of Our Public Schools

 On November 2nd Detroit voters will have chance to regain the right to
control our public schools. But to do that we must defeat yet another
underhanded attempt to deny us that right - a deceitful ballot measure
called Proposal E! Proposal E would give control of our schools to a CEO
appointed by the mayor. We'd be left with a token school board that could
only review the decisions of the mayor and CEO. This is a sneaky attempt to
extend forever the unjust school takeover that was imposed in 1999, and
continue the cutbacks, discriminatory degradation and privatization of
Detroit's public schools. Vote NO on E!

The corporations are spending millions to try to trick voters into approving
this new-style takeover. But the community and many important organizations
and individuals oppose it. AFSCME, the AFL-CIO, the membership of the
Detroit Federation of Teachers, NAACP, Council of Baptist Ministers, 14th
Congressional District Democrats, the Democratic State Convention, Keep the
Vote Coalition, By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), Mildred Gaddis, and the
majority of the Detroit state legislators and City Council members all
oppose Proposal E. But millions of corporate dollars can spread a lot of
lies and confusion. Get involved now! Call 965-1601 for lawn signs, bumper
stickers, or to volunteer to pass out literature at the polls on Tuesday,
November. You may get compensation for your time to campaign near the polls.


Why Defeating Proposal E is Crucial for City Workers

Kilpatrick is privatizing city jobs and cutting back public services.  In
the Water Department he closed Heavy Repair, cut overtime to practically
nothing and is threatening to eliminate afternoon shift at West Yard. In
addition to the recent 372 layoffs, he's now threatening more layoffs at
COBO. If Kilpatrick wins control of the schools, his Republican-style
privatization and anti-union policies will go into high gear at the schools
and the city.  But if Proposal E is defeated, Kilpatrick will be weaker, and
city workers stronger during contract negotiations starting next spring. If
Proposal E is defeated, Kilpatrick will be exposed to the community as a
failed sellout. Big business will have to look for another front man. And
without corporate money Kilpatrick will lose the election next fall. So this
vote is as crucial for city workers as it is for Kilpatrick. We must go all
out to hand Kilpatrick the defeat he deserves, and put city workers in
position to win what we deserve in our contracts next year!

Kilpatrick appointed the current board. Why would we want to give him more
control? Here's what they've done for us so far:

? Laid off 3,200 teaching & support staff and closed schools - leading to
poorer education, crumbling buildings, and falling enrollment
? Engaged in corrupt contracting-out and privatization of school employee's
jobs
? Paved the way for more corporate-run charter schools (studies show
charters provide worse education)
? Turned a $93 million budget surplus into a $230 million deficit
? Dramatically decreased the gap in MEAP scores compared to the rest of
Michigan

Truth vs. Lies on Proposal E

Kilpatrick and big business want you to believe that Proposal E "gives back
to Detroit the right to vote for school board." The truth is that it makes
permanent the Mayoral/state takeover that took away our right to vote. We
deserve the same rights as people of the 514 other Michigan school districts
to elect an empowered school board.

It's a lie that Proposal E "provides a system of checks and balances."
Actually, it creates a dictatorship with all the power is the hands of a
single CEO who is appointed by the Mayor and accountable to no one. This is
the opposite of checks and balances. During the current rule of CEO Kenneth
Burnley, Mayor Kilpatrick has not exercised "checks and balances" a single
time to stop any of Burnley's attacks on our schools.

They say "we can't go back to the old way when that the old elected school
board couldn't keep toilet paper in the schools."  There's no toilet paper
in the bathrooms now! Proposal E will make the unjust situation of the last
five years permanent. Today books and equipment are old as dirt, and the
schools are filthy and falling apart. Over 23,000 students have fled the
district since the beginning of the Mayoral/state takeover. The quality of
education is getting worse.

The unstated argument for Proposal E is that in order to get corporate money
into education, we must bow before the corporate interests and accept their
narrow charter school/trade school schemes for the youth of Detroit. The
truth is that the only real solution for educating Detroit's youth is more
state and federal resources to dramatically reduce class size. That will
require serious struggle. To wage that struggle we need an accountable
leadership of the Detroit public schools - a leadership that unites the city
of Detroit. Proposal E will only make the divisions of the last five years
worse, making it harder for us to win more resources. We must use the
campaign to defeat of Proposal E to launch a movement for equitable funding
for Detroit's schools. But the fight for real school improvement begins with
voting NO on Proposal E!

They lie when they say that Proposal E will make the members of the (utterly
powerless) board "closer to the people by electing all members from 9
separate Districts within the city." In reality the people behind Proposal E
want all the members elected on a district basis so that none of the members
of this board can say they represent the whole city, further weaken their
position against the Mayor's CEO.

Their lie is that Proposal E means "putting kids first." But really Proposal
E means continuing the decline of education and discrimination against
Detroit students. Improving Detroit's public education requires more
democracy, not Proposal E's denial of democracy. The people behind Proposal
E are attacking public education across the board to set us up for the
privatiziation and charterizing of education. An elected, accountable
leadership of the schools could never get away with the attacks on the young
people of Detroit that we've seen for the last five years. The people behind
Proposal E need to continue the dictatorship over our schools to carry on
with their evil plan. "Putting the children and youth of Detroit first"
means fighting for the resources needed to provide equal, quality education
in Detroit - something Proposal E supporters never talk about.

Here's the Actual Ballot Language

Detroit Election Commission Note: As required by state law, this Proposal is
presented as a "yes" or "no" question. The question presents a choice
between two alternative forms of governance for the Detroit Public Schools

"Yes" is a vote for the form of governance in which the Chief Executive
Officer will have the authority over the expenditure of all district funds
and academic programs; the Chief Executive Officer will be nominated by the
Mayor and approved by a nine (9) member elected board; the Chief Executive
Officer may be removed by the Mayor; and the school board will be composed
of nine (9) members elected by districts in which they live.

            "No" is a vote for the form of governance in which an eleven
(11) member board will have the authority over the expenditure of all
district funds and academic programs; the board will appoint or remove the
Superintendent/Chief Executive Officer; the board will be composed of eleven
(11) members with four (4) members elected at-large and seven (7) members
elected by districts in which they live.

The Detroit Election Commission Note is not part of the Proposal, but is
provided to assist voters in understanding the meaning of a "Yes" or a "No"
vote on the Proposal.

             Shall the Detroit School District be reapportioned into 9
single-member districts with district residency requirements, shall a new
school board be elected according to these election districts to serve in
the district, and shall the school district be governed by a chief executive
officer nominated by the mayor of the city with the greatest population
located within the boundaries of the school district and approved by this
newly elected school board? According to state law, a "yes" vote will result
in the establishment of the 9 election districts, election of a school
board, and appointment of the chief executive officer as described in this
question, and a "no" vote will result in the school district being governed
by the governing structure otherwise provided for a first class school
district under part 6 of the revised school code, consisting of an 11-member
school board for the school district with 4 members elected at-large and 7
members elected from election districts and with the school district
governed by the 11-member school board.

Yes ____
No ____


Additional Ballot Issues

In addition there are a few other Proposals on the ballot that should be
voted on. Proposals L & M would replenish Detroit Public Library funding to
make up for state funding cuts and expiration of the current library
millage. We should vote YES on L & M. The Libraries are not controlled by
the mayor, and the money is likely to be spent on the libraries, which is
not something that can't be said for the other proposals. Kilpatrick is
pushing for bond Proposals N, P, R, S & T. These were rammed through the
City Council at the last minute, and are written so that the money can be
spent on just about anything the mayor wants, including contractors. These
proposals are no good for the residents or city workers. Vote NO on N, P, R,
S, & T.

State Proposal 2 would ban legal recognition of both same-sex marriages and
domestic partnerships, which are used to get health insurance and other
legal rights for non-married partners, whether same-sex partners or
heterosexual partners. It would contradict many union contracts and Detroit
ordinances. The state already recognizes marriage only between a man and a
woman. This is a cynical attempt to divide us. George Bush supports it. We
should vote NO on Proposal 2.




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