The latest manifestations of the school district’s woes erupted earlier this week, when almost 100 Detroit schools were forced to close because of “sick-outs”, planned after teachers received news that the city would not pay them over the summer.
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“This is the right plan to fix Detroit’s schools and give the city a good, working school system for the long term”, Republican House Speaker Kevin Cotter said after the vote.
It came after almost 1,500 teachers called in sick to protest over news that the cash-strapped school system will run out of money to pay employees after the fiscal year ends on June 30. The current district would stay intact for tax-collection purposes to retire an estimated $500 million in long-term debt now being repaid from operating funds.
Much of the blame for the money troubles can be traced to plummeting enrollment, which is a third of what it was a decade ago in part because many Detroit parents have turned to charter schools and suburban districts.
The Republican-controlled House presented the plan after 15 hours of deliberation involving private caucus meetings, declaring that the sum would not only ensure teachers’ pay over the coming break, but would also eliminate the district’s debt.
There is an update for you out of Detroit where teachers are expected back in the classroom after a two day sick out that closed 90 schools but only under the condition that they would continue to be paid for their work.
The House plan also didn’t include more than $200 million that was in the Senate plan, which Democrats said was crucial for the schools’ recovery.
In a separate statement Thursday, Rhodes said the district needs the extra amount included in the Senate bill to cover startup costs for a new, debt-free Detroit school district.
“House Republicans had a chance to work in bipartisan fashion”, said state Rep. Fred Durhal III (D), “but instead they chose to pave their own path with corporate special interests that run for-profit schools here in MI”.
Hansen spokesman Peter Wills said in an email that a schedule for reconciling the Senate and House bills has not been set.
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He said its bad public policy.
