An MSU-Detroit College of Law forum today will address the state school voucher ballot proposal.

Pro-voucher group Kids First! Yes! counsel Richard McLellan and Michigan Education Association general counsel Arthur Przybylowicz will discuss the measure, which would amend the Michigan Constitution to give parents a $3,300 voucher - half the per-pupil funding for public schools - for tuition at private schools.

McLellan is the chief legal architect of the proposal. The MEA has come out against the ballot initiative.

The ballot issue, known as Proposal 1, would give parents the voucher if the public school district they live in fails to graduate at least two-thirds of its students.

The forum will be held at 7 p.m. in the Moot Court Room, room 428 of the DCL Building.

Voters will decide on the school voucher ballot proposal Nov. 7. The initiative also includes a measure requiring teacher testing.

“We hope the speakers will be able to enlighten the MSU community not only on the proposal but on the legal ramifications of the proposal as well,” said Allen Lanstra, editor in chief of the DCL Law Review, which is hosting the forum.

Both speakers will give brief presentations and respond to questions presented to them, Lanstra said.

The forum will focus on the legal and constitutional ramifications of the proposal. Richard Thompson, executive director and chief counsel at the Thomas More Center for Law and Justice, will mediate the forum.

The Law Review is a scholarly academic publication that covers timely legal topics. The completely student-edited journal has been published since 1931.