Many feared that public schools would lose funds

It may have been the costliest Michigan race in the 2000 election, but Proposal 1's education cocktail of vouchers, mandatory teacher testing and a school-funding minimum failed Tuesday by more than a 2-to-1 margin.

Ironically, the measure's proponents outspent those opposed by roughly the same 2-to-1 margin -- about $12 million to $6 million.

Many voters seemed sympathetic with the idea of school reform and helping disadvantaged children. The proposal was supported by an unlikely coalition of conservatives, the Catholic Church and urban education activists.

But most voters decided vouchers weren't the best solution. Those opposed were another unlikely coalition, including teachers unions, Republicans Gov. John Engler and U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham, and former Democratic Gov. James Blanchard.

"What's going to happen if they siphon off funds to Catholic and religious schools?" said Margaret James, waiting to vote at Clinton Valley Elementary in Clinton Township. "We'll end up footing the bill when the public schools don't have enough money."

With 29 percent of precincts reporting, 712,952, or 70 percent, voted no, and 300,586, or 30 percent, voted yes.

That was consistent with results of a telephone poll, conducted Tuesday for the Free Press and WXYZ-TV by EPIC/MRA of Lansing, that had Proposal 1 losing 69.6 percent to 29.4 percent. That poll also found Catholics voted against the measure, 65 percent to 35 percent, despite a drive by the church to pass the measure. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

"The whole nation was watching us tonight and the people did speak," said Wendy Wagenheim, spokeswoman for All Kids First, a coalition of groups opposing vouchers.

Although voucher backers weren't ready to commit to another election fight, they hinted they might bring the issue back.

"For those who thought there would be just this one time and they'd be done with us, I have some very bad news," proponent Dick Devos said. "We are not going to give up."

DeVos, president of Alticor Inc. -- formerly Amway Corp. – and his wife, Betsy DeVos, the former head of the state Republican Party, were largely responsible for getting the proposal on the ballot.

From the very beginning, Proposal 1 had a lot to explain to voters. First, there was the voucher issue. Students in seven school districts, including Detroit and Inkster, that graduated fewer than two-thirds of students in 1998-99 would be eligible to receive a publicly-funded voucher to help pay for private schooling.

Other districts could become voucher districts if a majority of the school board or local voters wanted it.

The measure also sought to make regular testing mandatory for teachers and to guarantee that schools would never get less per-pupil funding than in the 2000-01 school year -- despite the fact that a funding floor already exists under Michigan law.