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Saginaw Township School Vote: More Than an Issue of Taxes
Opponents Fear Township Getting 'City-fied'
By Mike Thompson
This is the view of many civic leaders and grassroots volunteers who
support a school millage tax renewal on May 6 in a suburb that has grown
almost
as large as the main inner City of Saginaw.
It is not an outwardly advertised or proclaimed view, but it exists
somewhere in the consciousness of virtually all who are involved. Such
is the cauldron of race mixing in our society, sometimes at the
forefront, sometimes subtle, but always there.
Tax-backers say some of these meanings may be related to ethnic issues,
implying bias among the foes. Opponents answer sharply that their views
have nothing to do with race.
The first school question is standard: For the sake of the young people,
are Saginaw Township residents at the ballot box willing to invest their
tax money to maintain and upgrade school buildings for the next
generations?
But this basic issue immediately becomes more complex: What if some of
those students do not have homes in the township, but come from
elsewhere? And what if some are not of the township's predominant
Caucasian persuasion?
More insight will come to light on May 6.
Saginaw Township residents narrowly defeated a similar proposal last
November, when it was for 2.50 mills (a slight increase of 0.25
mill) rather than for a straight renewal.
Previously, in May 2006, two-thirds of voters stomped a much
larger wish list that would have cost $104 million.
All of this has happened during a time when Black and Hispanic students
represent an increasing share of young pupils, some coming across
township borders during a state 'Schools of Choice' enrollment
reform that took root during the middle 1990s.
Racial attitudes seem to have entered the picture, say some school
supporters. This is because critics have opposed tax proposals in
response to the Board of Education allowing a large influx of schools of
choice youngsters. Cross-district students come from 14 other
communities, but the largest group is from the highly minority City
of Saginaw system.
School tax-backers speak carefully, but their feelings are clear.
"Some people don’t recognize that and I'm not comfortable extrapolating
that into their views on schools of choice, but I do have my values, and
others have different values."
Other tax backers have said foes of cross-district choice are "living in
the 1950s" or envision that Saginaw Township should remain almost
lily-White, but they will not attach their names to the statements.
"Race is not relevant," he says. "The point is that Saginaw Township
schools should be for Saginaw Township students. If a family can come
out to live in Saginaw Township, and pay Saginaw Township taxes, they
are more than welcome."
Lincoln and others counter that Jersevic backed enrollment choice
during the middle 1990s when the largest group would have come from
affluent almost-all-White Kochville Township rather than the
impoverished Black-majority Saginaw school system.
Jersevic has drawn fire from sources ranging from the Saginaw NAACP
to White liberals, for repeatedly referring to schools of choice
youngsters as 'alien' students. When Review Magazine asked for
his response, he paged through a dictionary.
"Alien means 'foreign, born abroad' " he quoted. "That's 100 percent
correct. Some people just can't handle the truth."
Todd Scharich
joins Jersevic as an opponent of school of choice and the tax plan, but
he does not agree with some of the tactics.
"We have similar ideas, but Rol can be a polarizing person," Scharich
says. AA term like 'alien' - I can see why it could be taken the wrong
way. I don't always agree with his approach, but I agree with his
points."
"I have spoken at board meetings as a sort of lone wolf, and the one
thing that makes me more mad than anything is the implication of being
called a racist or a kid-hater. I'm just being responsible. I don't
think it's the Saginaw Township taxpayers' responsibility to provide the
buildings for everyone to attend," he says.
"We have everything in Saginaw Township from million-dollar homes to
$400 apartments. If people want to have our children in the school
system, then let them move here and become a member of the Saginaw
Township school system."
Saginaw Township gradually has grown to an enrollment of 865
schools of pupils, or 17 percent of the 5,300 total headcount.
The in-district count of African American students is 11 percent,
actually 1 percentage point higher than the out-of-district ratio of 10
percent.
Still, Seese joins Lincoln and others who view a racial factor in some
of the anti-millage votes.
"Every year we look at schools of choice," Seese says. "It wasn't much
of an issue until 2006, when we asked for the larger $104 million bond
issue."
Jersevic is among critics who say the families of cross-district
children receive a tax break because they don't have to pay the
township's building taxes.
Seese
and Finance Director Diane Davis answer that these families still
pay into the state aid fund, and that 514 Saginaw Township
children head in the opposite direction by enrolling in other districts.
With 865 pupils coming from out of the district but 514 from in-district
going elsewhere, the township's net gain is only 351.
"Some people can't believe that a Saginaw Township resident would go
anywhere else for their education, but open enrollment works both ways,"
Davis says.
Another finance issue is that each choice student brings $7,200
in state aid for teaching and operations, which far exceeds a typical
homeowner's $135 tax bill for district buildings. Seese and Davis
say that if Saginaw Township closed its doors to out-of-district
students, a yearly loss of $6 million would force the school
board to sharply cut teachers and programs.
Jersevic counters that the district could close one of its six
elementary buildings with fewer pupils, while saving millions of dollars
with reduced staff.
"We would be paying under this proposal to improve our parking lots to
accommodate schools of choice students who drive to our buildings or get
dropped off. I don't want to pay money for that," he says.
"If our board would listen and stop all of this choice, they could put
5 mills up there and get it passed. But when one in six kids is not even
from our own district, that's ridiculous."
Jersevic adds that out-district students have caused state test scores
to decrease, asserting that "It is a shame that Saginaw Township has
slipped from far above average to only slightly ahead." He also points
to increased discipline problems.
Seese
answers that in-district students have average grade points of 2.7,
compared to 2.6 for those who cross boundaries. He adds that
in-district pupils actually break rules slightly more often than their
out-of-district peers.
"Neither difference is anywhere near significant," the superintendent
says.
They start by sticking to their chosen facts.
They address the school choice topic only if the resident chooses to
raise the question as a reason for opposition.
"Schools of choice is a completely separate issue and is not tie-barred
to the bond," Davis says.
Scharich
answers that tax backers are not facing reality.
"All you have to do is consider the comments of people, even on the
district's own blog (at stcs.org/bond), and you can see that the
two issues are indeed related," he says.
Millage supporters also wrongly perceive that all 'No' voters are
negative. Scharich asserts that the district indeed should raise money,
but that it should go for new buildings rather than 'piecemeal' or
'Band-Aid' repairs.
"People made it loud and clear that they want us to work with the
buildings we have now," she says. "New schools were unacceptable to the
majority of people."
"I didn't want to bring that up," Kahn says, "but when I knock on doors,
some people tell me that they don't want 'those' kids’ in the district.
When they talk about 'those kids', we all know who they're talking
about."
Parent volunteer Darlene Robinson also starts with basics. She
says the first step is simply to inform unaware parents that an election
indeed will take place on May 6. She emphasizes school security,
noting that new entrances will be far more visible to central school
offices.
Then she asserts that when confronted with choice critics, she sometimes
sees a race factor.
"I would have hoped that we had come far enough where the color of a
person's skin would not matter, and when I hear some of those remarks,
I'm ashamed, shocked, and saddened," she says.
"I consider all of the children in the schools to be my children. It has
been more than 40 years since Dr. Martin Luther King died, and still
here in 2008, it seems that the first thing we notice is the color of a
person's skin. I don't know how to fix that. I would have hoped that
would have changed by now."
If any individual might take offense, Lisa Hall would be the
one. She is the first member of African American heritage to serve on
the school board. Still, she wants to concentrate on the tax question
and not the schools of choice dynamics, even while Jersevic and others
cite choice as the reason for their 'no' votes on millages.
"The issues of the millage and school choice should be totally
separate," Hall says.
"It's important to think about what this bond would do for the school
district. We will restore and secure our building structures, in order
to ensure the best environment for students, teachers, administrators
and all the staff. It’s an obligation of the school district to provide
the necessities. At the same time, it's important to note that this is a
renewal, to keep the present millage at 2.25 mills, not an increase."
What about the schools of choice critics?
" I believe these people have their minds made up," says Hall, echoing
Judi Lincoln's thoughts. "The district has done an excellent job of
explaining why school choice is a good thing. When I encounter someone
who has their mind made up otherwise, I figure it's time to move on."
Township Demographics
A key section was in the middle of the report: "Inner ring suburbs
typically include a decrease in median income, an increase in poverty
level, and an increase in racial and ethnic diversity."
Change already is reflected. Whites still are predominant in Saginaw
Township as 88 percent of the population, but the count is down
from 94 percent in1990.
The White population in the schools is 73 percent. In other
words, the schools are more than twice as integrated as the township as
a whole.
Saginaw Township has the county's second-highest average age, trailing
only Frankenmuth. Planners say this creates a gap with an older White
population of senior citizens, combined with a young influx of
minorities.
White families with a single mother average about 8 percent,
compared to 18 percent among Hispanics and 30 percent
among Blacks. This cultural difference is rooted in historical factors
that include poverty and oppression.
As one cultural analogy on a typical school morning, White observers
may ask why Black mothers are dropping off their kids on a street
curbside instead of entering the parking lot. Blacks may answer that
they hesitate to enter because they wonder whether or not they feel
accepted in the township.
In the City of Saginaw, the river has served as a longtime ethnic
dividing line, although the near West Side is becoming deeply
integrated. The Saginaw Township outlook notes that no similar
'geographic barrier or division' exists, raising hopes that the suburb
may avoid some of the city's long-time frictions.
"People speak of a global economy," says Davis, who has served in the
district since 1990.
Board members said they were attempting to show that they were listening
to all aspects of the community. Superintendent Seese went along, even
though he would have preferred to continue open enrollment for 7th
through 12th graders who have younger siblings in elementary grades.
Seese
estimates that as a result of the new restriction, the district will
lose 60 secondary students in August. At $7,400 per head,
the loss translates to $444,000.
Schools of choice critics such as Jersevic and Scharich say the board's
step is nowhere near sufficient to resolve the issue. But on the flip
side, some observers indicate that the board didn't need any
restrictions in the first place.
Heritage High
senior Lindsay Robinson, daughter of Darlene Robinson, is
a non-voting student delegate to the school board. She says her school
experience has been enriched because of the mix of non-district students
whom Rol Jersevic has described as 'aliens' at board meetings.
"In third grade (social studies), we learned about the meaning of
community and it isn't just us. It's also the people who surround
us. That's why we are known as Saginaw Township Community Schools," she
says.
"I've had an opportunity to learn about students from different areas
and different cultures. You don't see in-district kids sitting with
other in-district kids, or schools of choice kids sitting with other
schools of choice kids. It's not like the schools of choice kids have
orange polka dots. It's all intermixed. Many of my friends I couldn't
tell you whether they are in-district kids or choice kids.
They're just my friends."
Scharich says he understands the teen's explanation, but he is not
changing his mind.
"I don't disagree that we need to have a diverse community, but that has
nothing to do with the school system itself," Scharich says. "I don't
feel that it's my responsibility as a taxpayer to pay for that. From
schools of choice, the burden on Saginaw Township is only going to
continue to grow."
One posting from April 1 draws a clear-cut connection. The author states
that she is a City of
"I came upon this blog. I was quite taken aback. I honestly had no idea
that there was such a gaping chasm between 'city' and 'township' and I
must say that I was very disappointed with some of the comments.
Although, much as I hate to admit it, I will say that those comments
accomplished their goal. I will not be sending my child to township
schools."
"She is not a problem child and has never been expelled from anything
and would have made a very nice addition to your student body. But quite
honestly, we do not want to come where we are not welcome."
"I say that out of sadness. It makes me very sad to know that township
parents feel so strongly about keeping us out that they would resort to
voting down a bond proposal to make this kind of a statement. To deprive
thousands of your own children of better and healthier learning
conditions because of a few hundred 'unwelcome' ones seems ludicrous.
"I get a very cold feeling from this blog, a feeling that smacks of
prejudice. I'm concerned that, should my child go to your schools, she
would somehow be singled out as one of those 'Schools of Choice' Kids. ’
There is a grave risk of the sentiment contained in this blog trickling
down through the children." "Don't we all live in Saginaw County? Isn't this a community of people rather than a bunch of little villages? We should be working together to produce the most exceptional and well-rounded human beings that we can."
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"The diversity of the students and residents of Saginaw Township is
changing," says Judi Lincoln, board president. 
Superintendent Jerry Seese notes that the in-district ratio of
ethnic minority students, 26 percent, is only slightly lower than
the cross-district share of 30 percent. This means that
integration in township schools would be increasing even without schools
of choice. 