And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: "Gary Glenn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
HISPANIC LEADERS ENDORSE
SCHOOL CHOICE YES! TAX CREDIT
Please see news release below from the Michigan Commission on
Spanish-Speaking Affairs...
GARY GLENN
President
School Choice YES!
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.SchoolChoiceYES.org
517-839-4500 (o)
517-839-4506 (fax)
Michigan Commission On
Spanish Speaking Affairs
Marylou Mason, Executive Director
741 N. Cedar, Suite 102
Lansing, Michigan 48913 * 517/334-8626
FAX: 517/334-8641
State of Michigan John Engler
Governor
Department Nanette Lee Reynolds, Ed.D.
of Civil Rights Director
March 30, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HISPANIC LEADERS ENDORSE K-12
TUITION TAX CREDIT CONCEPT
LANSING, March 30, 1999 -By unanimous vote, the Michigan Commission on
Spanish-Speaking Affairs endorsed the concept of a proposed amendment to
Michigan's Constitution that would establish a "Universal Tuition Tax
Credit" for tuition paid to public and private elementary and secondary
schools. The endorsement, made on February 5, 1999, followed a December
presentation to the Commission by School Choice YES!, a Midland-based group
which plans to place the proposal on Michigan's November 2000 ballot.
Jeorge Fierro, Holland, chairman of the Commission's Education Committee,
said Hispanic children --whose public school test scores rank at the bottom
compared to other ethnic groups --will be the primary beneficiaries of
expanded school choice plans such as the proposed tuition tax credit.
"College graduation rates among Hispanic and African-American children who
attend urban Catholic or other private schools are more than double their
public school counterparts, meaning this type of tax credit could more than
double our children's chances for a successful future," said Fierro.
(Economist Derek Neal of the University of Chicago found that 27 percent of
Hispanic and Black urban catholic school graduates who started college
graduated, compared with 11 percent of minority public school graduates.
Neal found the probability that inner-city students would graduate from high
school increases from 62 percent to 88 percent when those students are
placed in a Catholic secondary school.)
"We endorse the concept of this proposal that gives a tax credit not
involving state tax dollars to people and companies who donate to K-12
tuition scholarship funds for low-income children. This will make access to
better education choices and alternatives a reality for more minority
parents and their children," Fierro stated.
The traditional public school system fails to educate far too many Hispanic
children, Fierro said, citing government agency statistics.
* In 1993, only 53.1 percent of Hispanic students over the age of 25 had
completed high school, and only nine percent held a bachelor's degree,
according to the Census Bureau's current population data.
* Forty-seven percent of Hispanic students do not graduate from high school.
* Of Hispanic high school graduates, 47 percent were either "marginally
qualified" or "unqualified" for admission to a four-year college between
1992 and 1994, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
* Nearly 21 percent of Hispanic high school graduates were only "minimally
qualified" for college. In short, two-thirds of all Hispanic high school
graduates are minimally, marginally, or not qualified to begin college,
compared with just over half of all high school graduates.
* Hispanics in private or Catholic schools significantly out perform
Hispanics in public school on standardized tests.
The Michigan Commission on Spanish-Speaking Affairs was created in 1975 by
an act of the Legislature to develop a unified policy and plan of action to
serve the needs of Michigan's Hispanic people.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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