Remember schools? Engler's track record should not be forgotten Gov. John Engler pushed for improvements in public education in Michigan during his State of the State Address last Wednesday. These improvements included greater spending on primary and secondary education students in Michigan's public schools. A minimum of $6,500 would be spent on each student in the state. Engler's apparent change of focus, from correctional facilities to schools, is a positive start. But voters should not forget that Engler has spent the last eight years of his governorship burning and pillaging Michigan's educational system to build more prisons and establish quasi-private schools. Over the course of his governorship, Engler has reduced the number of employees at the Department of Education from 2,058 to a mere 338 workers. Engler's staunch support of school vouchers and charter schools, a position he continued to maintain in his State of the State address, has sapped funding from public schools for years. This past summer, Engler stole power from the democratically elected Detroit School Board. This decision demonstrated his lack of faith in Detroit's voters as well as their right to elect whomever they please to run Detroit's public schools. Engler also inadequately funded higher education in Michigan and rerouted the money to correctional facilities. In the 1998-99 fiscal year, Engler proposed a meager 1.5 percent increase in state funding for all of Michigan's public colleges and universities. The suggested increase was below the rate of inflation indicated by the Consumer Price Index. Yet Engler's budget proposal for 2000 included an 8.65 percent increase in funding for the Department of Corrections. Under that proposal, prisons would have received $85 million more than all 15 of Michigan's public colleges and universities combined. Democrats voiced skepticism towards Engler's State of the State Address - elections are coming up this fall and education issues could be decisive in legislative races. Michigan Republicans in the state legislature have long been accused of neglecting education. The apparent new focus on education highlighted in Engler's State of the State Address may be an attempt to silence critics of Engler's and fellow Republicans' educational policies. Voters should keep in mind the political background of Engler's speech, as well as his legislative record, when they cast their ballots in the fall. Feel-good proposals like Engler's Golden Apple Award, which would be given to the highest achieving elementary schools in the state, are not solutions to the funding problems Engler has already created for public schools. Certainly, any increase in funding for primary and secondary school students is welcome, even if it comes from Engler. Engler's proposal is too little, too late and is not likely to correct the havoc Engler has unleashed upon public schools. Engler's slashing of the Department of Education, his support of school vouchers and private schools, his under-funding of public colleges and universities and his disregard of Detroiters' right to choose their own school board indicate that his priorities are not aligned with public education in Michigan. Originally on page 4A in the 1-26-2000 issue of the Daily.