Teachers and some parents are urging MI lawmakers to pass a $715 million education reform package that would fund salaries for July and beyond.
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I am, however, confident that the legislature will support the request that will guarantee that teachers will receive the pay that is owed to them.”Under Michigan law, teachers may not strike, but Detroit teachers have staged multiple sickouts in recent months to protest the deplorable conditions of the city’s school buildings”.
“Teachers, you are going to get paid”, said State Representative Al Pscholka, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which is considering the bills.
“Their selfish and misguided plea for attention only makes it harder for us to enact a rescue plan and makes it harder for Detroit’s youngest residents to get ahead and build a future for themselves”, Cotter said in a statement.
About 46,000 students in the 97 schools stayed home Monday and Tuesday – and working parents struggled to find childcare.
In total, payments will end after June 28th, meaning that teachers involved will miss around five payments, which is said to be the equivalent of being unpaid for 37 days of work. In the MI school system, teachers had the option of being paid over 44 weeks or 58 weeks, and many chose the latter, which would have meant payments going all the way to August, due to teachers working in summer school and the extended weeks reportedly leading to easier management.
A teachers’ rally in Detroit.
DPS emergency manager Judge Steven Rhodes told the union Saturday that unless the state Legislature approves sending more money to the district, there is not enough in the coffers to pay teachers their already-earned salaries after June 30.
“Their failure to give us that guarantee is tantamount to a lock-out”, the union said in a statement, referring to school system executives and lawmakers.
As The Two-Way has reported, public schools are now funded only through June.
The bills don’t include the Detroit Education Commission that was included in the Senate package that was proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder and endorsed by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and a Coalition of groups advocating for the district. “Today I am thankful for the teachers who are always on stage in defense of attacked urban communities, their democratic rights, and the sanctity and power of the teaching profession”.
It hasn’t been made clear how the district will pay wages it had previously said it couldn’t. The schools are expected to reopen on Wednesday.
Now, the teachers have other allies as well: Detroit students and parents.
That’s a deal killer for Democrats, who said without the transition costs, which have been estimated to be even higher than $200 million, the district will fail. The bills next head to the floor of the Republican-led House, which could vote on them later this week.
“I am on record as saying that I can not in good conscience ask anyone to work without pay”, said Rhodes.
If not school, where do kids go?
“This is one of the most tumultuous school years our kids have experienced”, she told CNN.
Buckman has nieces and nephews in the public school system. As of 10 p.m., the district has not closed any schools.
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“This creates a safety issue when you have unsupervised children”, she said. It’s been a lot of negotiating, going back and forth and empathizing with them.
