Michigan's Granholm criticized for cuts in public education

[Karmadillo]

One might dismiss these articles on the grounds they come from a socialist (gasp!) website, but they do appear to raise serious questions about what's going on in Michigan. Anyone know if the facts referred to below are accurate?

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/mich-j24.shtml

A rally held Tuesday in Lansing, Michigan, to protest sweeping cuts in public education epitomized the efforts of the teachers unions to defuse mass opposition and channel it behind Governor Jennifer Granholm and the Democratic Party.

As many as 13,000 Michigan teachers, support staff and parents marched on the state capital, representing the largest mobilization of its kind in Michigan in recent years. But the event was turned into an official Democratic Party event, with the platform dominated by Democratic politicians and Governor Granholm as the featured speaker.

On this political basis—despite the anger of parents and school workers against closures and cutbacks—no effective fight to defend public education can be waged.

Since she took office in 2003, Granholm has instituted an austerity policy of cuts in public spending on the one hand, and further tax windfalls for big business on the other. Per-student funding has remained at $6,700, and there have been mid-year cuts averaging $75 per student. Under her administration, $3.3 billion has been cut from the state budget, affecting public schools, adult education, institutions of higher learning, and other vital social programs. She is presently negotiating another estimated $70 million in cuts.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/leaf-j24.shtml

New political strategy needed to defend public education

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There is no fundamental difference between Granholm’s policies and those of the Bush administration. Both the Democrats and Republicans defend the interests of corporate America and the wealthy elite, which have looted the public treasury in order to enrich themselves with tax breaks and other subsidies. Both political parties peddle the same big lie that there is no money to pay for public education and other services that tens of millions of working people rely on.

The issue is not the lack of money but how society’s resources are spent. The cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan has been over $350 billion. That is enough to hire an additional 6 million teachers nationwide or 150,000 in Michigan alone. Yet hundreds of billions of dollars have been wasted—and the lives of nearly 2,000 US soldiers and countless Iraqis squandered—to further the interests of the oil companies and other big corporations.

Then there are the tens of millions of dollars raked in by a typical CEO at a Fortune 500 company. Richard Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors who just ordered the layoff of 25,000 workers, collected $12,798,572 in total compensation in 2003, including stock option grants, while retaining another $12,477,364 in unexercised stock options from previous years. The highest paid corporate executive was Edward S. Lampert, a Wall Street financial manager for ESL Investments, who made $1.02 billion last year. This fortune was largely due to Lampert’s deal-making in the merger of Kmart and Sears, a move that resulted in the destruction of thousands of jobs.

Vast amounts of wealth are being concentrated into the hands of a tiny percentage of the population, whose insatiable appetite for gain knows no bounds. For this new capitalist oligarchy, the maintenance of basic democratic rights and institutions stands in the way of their continuing accumulation of riches.

Free public education was originally conceived as a great equalizer. Such luminaries as Horace Mann and John Dewey viewed compulsory education as a necessary precondition for a humane and equitable society. The present ruling elite in America is guided by no such concerns. As is the case in so many areas that involve the basic needs of the vast majority of people living in America today, public education is being sacrificed on the alter of the capitalist market.

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[MichiganVote]

1. After Engler, Michigan was saddled with a $3billion deficit

Granholm held public school funding even for the past two years, despite outcry from republicans, and has raise per pupil funding this year from $6500 to $6700. The budget did cut $ to higher ed. this year.

Michigan has to offer what it can to business. We are already hemorraging business capitol in this country and Michigan is greatly affected by that.

As for the concentration of wealth in a small % of people, Granholm hardly invented that concept. She has managed fewer cuts in Medicaid that many other states.

All in all her performance is very good if not perfect.