In a letter to teachers Tuesday, Rhodes wrote that the school system “recognizes the contractual obligation to pay teachers what they have earned and we assure all teachers that we will honor that legal obligation”.
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“We’ve been working 24/7 to secure the assurance that educators will be fully paid for the school year, so they can go back to the classroom and do what they love to do – teach their students”, said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, who was in town to support the local union.
Teachers who closed Detroit schools for two days by calling out sick announced Tuesday that they would return to the classroom after receiving assurance from the district’s manager that they would be paid.
MI legislators have approved $48.7 million in supplemental funding but that will allow the district to meet payroll only through the end of June, Rhodes said on Saturday.
The financially troubled school system has said that – unless state lawmakers pass a bailout plan – it won’t be able to make payroll over the summer, leaving many teachers uncompensated for work during the school year.
“They support the children…. and they don’t get paid enough”, said Sherrille Bryant-Carter, whose three grandchildren and niece attend Detroit Public Schools. He said the measures heading to the full House “feel like and look like anti-teacher bills” and differ radically from legislation approved in March by the Senate that he described as “workable”.
“At the very least, teachers must be paid for the work they do”, Ms Weingarten said.
Teachers rally outside the school district’s headquarters, Tuesday, May 3, 2016, in Detroit. Unlike the Senate plan, the House proposal would prohibit labor contracts in the current district from being transferred to the new district and restrict collective bargaining over work schedules and school calendars.
The bill would restructure the district and its debt, creating a new, debt-free school system. The legislation now heads to the House floor. It was unclear how quickly that could occur before the Legislature adjourns for the summer in mid-June.
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has said the district’s debt will reach about $515 million by this summer.
State House Appropriations Committee Chairman Al Pscholka (pa-SHOLKA) told a hearing Tuesday that it’s “time for us to act”.
In January, teachers staged a sickout to protest dilapidated and dangerously unsanitary conditions – including rat and roach infestations, black mold and falling ceiling panels – forcing the closure of dozens of schools.
Some lawmakers, however, are saying that the district may need more than $800 million.
That has forced some parents to skip work or find someone else to watch their children. Some school employees can elect to have their pay spread out over the entire year rather than the school year, which means that if they don’t get paid after June 30, they’ve already started working for free, DFT argues. During the strike, a judge ordered the teachers to return to work after Detroit Public Schools requested an injunction, but teachers mostly stayed off the job.
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On Tuesday, the district closed 94 of its 97 schools, the same number that canceled classes on Monday, when more than 1,500 teachers did not show up for work. Much of the blame for the money troubles can be traced to plummeting student enrollment.
