In a campaign that鈥檚 almost entirely about the Michigan economy, wealthy businessman and school choice supporter Dick DeVos Jr. is giving Democratic Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm a tough challenge.
If Mr. DeVos wins鈥攁nd polls show the race is close鈥攖he school choice movement will have one of its most generous allies in office.
The Republican is a strong supporter of vouchers and other school choice initiatives who helped finance the campaign in 2000 to change the Michigan Constitution to allow publicly funded tuition vouchers that could be used at religious schools. That effort failed, but he used it as a steppingstone to help launch a political action committee called All Children Matter, which seeks to get school-choice-friendly candidates into state office nationwide.
Mr. DeVos made his fortune, which is helping fund his gubernatorial campaign, by working his way up the ladder of Amway Corp., which was co-founded by his father, Richard DeVos.
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Though vouchers aren鈥檛 a part of his education platform in the governor鈥檚 race, Mr. DeVos has other proposals, including merit pay for teachers. He also supports the 鈥�65 percent solution,鈥� a policy idea that would require at least that percentage of school funding to go to the classroom, not to administration. (鈥淕roup鈥檚 鈥�65 Percent Solution鈥� Gains Traction, GOP Friends,鈥� Oct. 12, 2005.)
Though his campaign wouldn鈥檛 provide more details about his proposals, his education platform also calls for creating alternative-certification programs to allow math and science professionals a fast track to jobs in teaching.
