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This article appeared in The Detroit News on July 7, 1998. Reprinted with permission.
A school-choice movement with roots in Michigan on Monday, July 6, 1998, picked up the first endorsement of the issue by a mainstream black religious denomination and a $10-million donation from a fund headed by a Wal-Mart heir.
The support given by E. Edward Jones, head of the 4 million-member National Baptist Convention of America, is a direct result of a May meeting in Grand Rapids between African-American ministers and advocates for the Michigan school-choice proposal.
The $10 million will go to a fund intended to provide scholarships for primary and secondary education the way the United Negro College Fund provides scholarships for college students. "The school-choice movement has grown to the point that only a presidential veto stands in the way. With the African-American community now taking up a leadership role, even that tide will turn," said Gary Glenn, head of School Choice YES!, which organized the Grand Rapids meeting and is pushing a tuition tax-credit idea for Michigan's 2000 ballot.
Opponents of school choice, including the teachers unions, are resisting the policy because they think it will drain money from public schools and hurt more kids than it helps. While the national Baptist group does not officially speak for any local pastors, Glenn expects a number of local Baptist leaders to endorse the idea as well.
"It's a new day to me," said the Rev. Henry Green of Enon Baptist Church in Detroit. "I can see God working." Green said he plans to do whatever he can to make school choice a reality in Michigan.
The $10 million in matching funds was pledged by the Children's Scholarship Fund, which was set up by Wal-Mart heir John Walton and New York investor Ted Forstmann with $100 million they intended to support school-choice programs.
The School Choice YES! proposal would give tax breaks to individuals and companies that donated money to help children pay the costs of attending private and religious schools.
"This will have a seismic impact," said Clint Bolick, litigation director of the Institute for Justice, which just successfully argued a school-choice case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. "It reflects the first institutional recognition of a movement that's been rumbling at the grass roots. Black churches are opening their own schools and increasing numbers of black pastors are becoming vocal supporters of school choice."
