8-26-2004    

On November 2^nd -

• No Compromise on Voting Rights – Defend Detroit’s Public Schools

• Regain a fully-empowered, fully-elected school board to fight for equal, quality education for the students of Detroit!

 
On November 2nd, Detroit residents will have the opportunity take back control of our public schools by voting “NO” on Proposal E. We will have the opportunity to win back the right to vote for school board that was stolen from us when the takeover board was imposed five years ago. We will have the chance to stand up for inner-city school districts around the country that are facing over-crowded classes, privatization, layoffs and the closing of schools.

Detroit must take a stand on November 2nd and say a loud “NO!” to the attacks on our public schools. “NO” to the school closings! “NO” to layoffs of teachers and support staff! “NO” to second-class education for black and other minority students!

Come to the PUBLIC TRIBUNAL on Conditions in the DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 30th at 4 PM     in the Detroit City Council Auditorium Coleman A. Young Building, 13th Floor Two Woodward Ave.

A “NO” vote will defeat the Republican privatization schemes and put in place a fully-empowered, fully-elected board. A “NO” vote means Detroiters demanding the rights that all the other school districts in Michigan have.

We are building a mass civil rights campaign for a “NO” vote. This is a decisive fight for the quality of education and the quality of life in Detroit. This civil rights campaign for a “NO” vote on Proposal E is the first phase of a long-overdue struggle for the increased resources that Detroit schools need so badly. Against us stand the Chamber of Commerce, all the moneyed interests and their lackeys; with us stand the immense majority of the people of Detroit starting with the young people who have both the most to loose and the most to gain in this fight. To win this fight, we need your help starting now.

Winning a “NO” vote will do more than defeat the takeover and win back real voting rights for Detroiters – it will open up a united struggle of students, teachers, parents, school workers, public workers and the whole Detroit community for the dramatic improvement in education that Detroit students need and deserve. The new civil rights movement that has emerged over the last several years is the force that can organize a successful “NO” campaign and can make the radical improvements necessary in Detroit Public Schools. A unified Detroit, led by that new civil rights movement and accountable leaders can win this fight and advance the fight for quality education for poor districts – urban and rural – across the state.

Only a democratically elected school board with real authority and real accountability will have the power to force Lansing and Washington to provide the increased funding necessary to lower class size, increase books and supplies and rebuild Detroit’s crumbling facilities. We must fight for and win reimbursement for all the funds squandered by CEO Kenneth Burnley and his appointed Board and for equalization of funding across all districts in Michigan. Burnley and his board failed to wage any fight for the desperately needed increase in resources for Detroit schools. Any take over of the schools divides the community of Detroit and makes it harder to wage the needed fight in Lansing and Washington for more resources.

Currently, Detroit receives only $6,584 per student, while Grosse Pointe students are allocated $9,394 per student and Birmingham Public Schools receive $11,378 per student! The new civil rights movement demands an end to the disgrace of unequal funding for our schools. No more second-class education for Detroit’s students! No more back of the bus!


Unified Campaign for NO on E

The campaign for a fully-elected, fully-empowered school board and a “NO” vote on Proposal E has already united a coalition of forces capable of mobilizing a powerful fight for increased resources. The NAACP, AFSCME Council 25 (public workers), the majority of the Detroit City Council, Keep the Vote Coalition and BAMN have all called for a “NO” vote on Proposal E.

A “yes” vote would create a powerless elected school board under the thumb of a CEO appointed by the mayor; it would empower corporate interests to impose Republican schemes to privatize the public education system and rob Detroit students of any chance of receiving a decent education. We know what a “yes” vote means for our schools and our proud city. Five years under the dictatorship of Burnley tells us what we get with an appointed manager of the schools who has unlimited authority and is not accountable to the community: school closings, layoffs of thousands of teachers and other support staff, larger class sizes, an enormous budget deficit, falling enrollment, and increased privatization through charters and subcontracting of school services. The State Legislature took away Detroit’s right to vote in the first place precisely to ram through these unpopular policies.

The Chamber of Commerce, contractors who profited from the school takeover, and the corporations that hope to profit from further privatization are pouring millions of dollars into an advertising campaign aimed at deceiving people into voting “yes”. We must counter their campaign of lies and deception with a grass-roots civil rights effort to expose the true condition of the Detroit schools and the results of the takeover.

JOIN THE CIVIL RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FOR A “NO” VOTE ON PROPOSAL E! We need you to bring campaign organizers to your school, union, church and block club so that we can spread the word. We need unions, community groups and churches to come out publicly for a “NO” vote and to distribute literature and display lawn signs. We need help distributing literature, lawn signs, stickers and T-shirts. If the community gets organized and stands together, we will win.

Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN)

www.bamn.com - letters@bamn.com - For more information, call 313-645-9360