Juan Manigault touts bigger government

In the most recent gratis campaign press release - courtesy of The South Bend Tribune - Juan Manigualt proposes a notable expansion of city governmental authority into the realm of primary and secondary education.

In a move which must surprise at least some conservative voters, Mr. Manigault proposes to remove two school board positions from the democratic process and instead make them political appointees. He also advocates electing the remaining five members on an at-large basis, instead of on a district basis as they are now. The latter idea might be worthy of discussion, though I think it might unduly advantage progressive candidates. The former idea has some real problems, though.

Let's start with jurisdiction. The City of South Bend and the area served by The South Bend School Corporation are not the same. The school corporation serves many pockets of St. Joseph County which are not in the city limits. Voters in those areas have no representation in city government. And it is a bit stunning to hear folks who think judges should be elected say that people who need much less specialized training should be appointed. The implication is that voters are not qualified to make these decisions about school board members, but are knowledgeable enough about questions of law to elect judges.

I disagree entirely with the notion that a city mayor should have any formal role with a school system. The city government has plenty to keep itself busy with and the citizens (particularly parents of school age children) should be willing to take on the responsibility of electing qualified people to represent them - at a minimum. I' d hope for more than that - but not everyone has the luxury, I know.

The article notes that his educational policy centerpiece would be to agitate for a replica of the Kalamazoo Promise program here in South Bend. There is little disagreement that the Kalamazoo program - which funds state college/university tuition for all high school graduates - is a model and a fabulous success story. But again, this has nothing to do with city government. It is privately funded and should (one would think) be run by a private non-profit foundation. I can't resist adding that the last person we should want to keep track of the fund would be Juan Manigault - someone who's likely cost the taxpayers directly and through lost opportunity something approaching two million dollars through his fiscal ineptness.

I had hoped to read his specific proposal, but it is not posted on his campaign website. I have relied on the information provided by The South Bend Tribune.

After Mr. Manigault loses this campaign, it will be interesting to see if he really wants Mayor Luecke to appoint two school board members and if he'll put real effort behind creating a South Bend Promise program.

Forgive me if I seem skeptical.

Don Wheeler