Amway Chief Bankrolls Michigan Drive For Religious School Aid.

Richard DeVos, president of Amway Corp., has pledged millions to an effort to repeal a section of the Michigan Constitution that bars taxpayer aid to private religious schools.

DeVos hopes to mobilize a group of business, civic and religious leaders behind the effort and is busy lining up support. The drive will be coordinated by the Mackinac Center, a right-wing think tank.

The immediate target of the DeVos-funded effort is Article 8, Section 2 of the Michigan Constitution. Approved by the voters in 1970, the provision specifically forbids government to subsidize sectarian schools "directly or indirectly."

The DeVos proposal would do more than simply remove the provision from the constitution. It would also set up a full-blown voucher plan in the state, with vouchers worth $3,000 required in districts identified as "at risk." It would also allow voters in other communities to decide if they want vouchers.

Voucher backers last attempted to remove the constitutional provision through a ballot referendum in 1978 but were rebuffed at the polls by the voters, 74 percent to 26 percent. DeVos and his allies expect to pour millions into the new effort, which will appear on the 2000 ballot.

"It's a major victory for us," Larry Reed, Mackinac Center president, told the Midland Daily News. "[DeVos is] the guy who can both give and get substantial amounts of money. He doesn't do anything he doesn't put his heart and wallet into."

Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida has joined the crusade, saying, "A strong private educational program in the city is indispensable for creating a great public school system. It's a healthy dose of competition that brings out the best." Maida estimated that with vouchers, Detroit Catholic schools would double their enrollment.

DeVos and his backers must collect more than 300,000 signatures to place the measure on the ballot. Once that is done, they expect to spend at least $5 million touting the plan.

Voucher boosters claim that tax aid to religious schools will increase student performance. No objective study of existing voucher plans has shown this to be true. Meanwhile, two new reports indicate what really does spark student achievement -- and it isn't vouchers.

In a recently concluded study that ran more than a decade in Tennessee, researchers concluded that smaller class sizes increase educational performance. Students in classes with 13 to 17 students, the researchers found, got higher grades and were more likely to go to college than students in bigger classes.

The comprehensive study was conducted by Project STAR, which examined the academic performance of more than 11,000 students since 1986.

A second study, this one conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Education Trust, surveyed 366 elementary and secondary schools in 21 states that serve largely poor populations but whose students score above average on test scores. The Trust concluded that higher education standards, teacher accountability and continuing education for teachers, parental involvement and more individual instruction are the keys to success.

In other news about religious school aid:

* New York's highest court has once again declared a special public school district for Hasidic Jews unconstitutional. The May 11 ruling by the State Court of Appeals marked the tenth time state and federal courts have ruled on the matter.

New York lawmakers first created the special district in 1989 to serve handicapped children in the Hasidic enclave of Kiryas Joel. After that effort was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994, legislators passed a new law, which was subsequently struck down by the New York Court of Appeals in 1996. Despite the latest ruling, the mayor of the village said he plans to ask the legislature to pass yet another law.

* The Chittenden, Vt., school board has reversed a policy favoring vouchers. After elections changed the composition of the board, members voted 2-1 March 15 to end an effort to pay for tuition at private religious schools.

Chittenden does not have its own high school and pays to send students to non-sectarian private schools. In 1996 the board agreed to include religious high schools as well, a proposal that was blocked by state officials. Board members subsequently filed suit and hired the Institute for Justice, a Washington provoucher group. A state court ruled against the board, and an appeal is pending before the Vermont Supreme Court.