In Michigan, where I live, the group opposed to a voucher initiative that will be voted on November 7th is saturating local radio and television stations with ads denouncing the voucher proposal. According to the anti-voucher ads, vouchers will destroy education in Michigan, cause taxes to skyrocket, and any number of other horrible problems. The ads are very slick and, if the polls are any guide, very effective — support for the voucher plan is now stuck at around 30 percent.
One of the ads went too far for several Michigan TV stations who recently pulled the ad. The ad showed a little girl in a wheelchair with an accompanying voiceover that said, “Angelica will not benefit from Proposal 1’s exclusive private school vouchers because private schools are allowed to reject disabled students like Angelica.”
In fact, Michigan’s Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act — enacted in 1976 — makes it illegal for private schools to discriminate against people based solely on their disabilities.
This is pretty typical of the campaign the anti-voucher forces are running. It’s too bad that the Michigan Education Association and others haven’t put as much energy into teaching kids to read and not drop out as they have into defeating the voucher proposal.
Anti-voucher ad with disabled girl pulled. Laura Potts, The Detroit Free Press, October 26, 2000.