Candidate speaks out on Michigan schools

Kevin Carey WW photo: Cheryl LaBash

Activists with the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice (MECAWI), a prominent anti-imperialist, anti-war group centered in Detroit, have entered the November elections with a statewide Stop the War Slate on the Green Party of Michigan ticket. Some of the candidates, like laid-off teacher and teachers’ union activist Kevin Carey, are also members of Workers World Party. Carey was also chairperson of the Southern Africa Freedom Committee and is currently president of the Committee for Corrections and Judicial Reform. Below are excerpts from a leaflet issued by Carey on education in Michigan:

I, Kevin Carey, candidate for the State Board of Education on the Green Party ticket, stand with the Detroit school teachers and education workers throughout Michigan in their fight for economic justice and decent working conditions.

As a former Detroit substitute teacher who was laid off in the last round of cutbacks, I have experienced first hand the hardships being imposed on teachers and school personnel.

If elected, I will use my position to defend the right of teachers to strike, promote legislation to increase teachers’ pay 10 percent and impose a moratorium on layoffs and benefit cuts for teachers and all school personnel.

End apartheid education

If I am elected to the State Board of Edu cation, my top priority will be to fight for equal funding for public school districts throughout Michigan. Today, the districts that need the most receive the least. For example, Detroit receives $8,390 per pupil, while Birmingham receives $12,740 and Bloomfield Hills receives $13,379.

Cities and rural areas with high poverty rates, which have the most to overcome to educate their students, have the lowest funding rates. I will fight for immediate equali zation of funding for students throughout Michigan, as well as special funding for those districts that have been under-funded till now.

I also stand for more multi-cultural clas ses in public schools. African-Ameri can, Latin@, Native American and Asian-Ameri can Studies should be taught in every public school. There should be Gay and Lesbian Studies to stop the haras sment and stigmatization of students based on their sexual orientation.

I am for a tutorial program in all public schools. College work study should be provided to tutor students in subjects where they need help.

Money for education, not for war

I am a member of the Green Party/Stop the War Slate. We call for an immediate end to the illegal and immoral U.S. wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Lebanon. The U.S. government has spent well over $200 billion funding the war on Iraq. If that money had been spent for human needs, not war, Michigan’s share would be over $8.7 billion. That would go a long way to providing equal, quality education for every student in Michigan. I oppose all military recruitment in public schools.