The most vocal advocate for school-age children in Detroit gives high – but not ideal – marks to the late-night vote on Thursday, June 2, to send $617 million to the district to eliminate debt in the Detroit Public School and launch a new district.
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The House passed legislation Thursday night that would restructure Detroit Public Schools and retire $467 million in debt over roughly 8 ½ years.
But Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof told The Associated Press the $150 million is “probably the low end”.
Gov. Rick Snyder of MI will not support Donald Trump, his party’s presumptive presidential nominee, making him the latest prominent Republican to distance himself from the party’s new de facto leader.
The House could vote on the new plan as soon as June 2, or early next week.
The ailing district has been managed by the state for seven years, during which it has grappled with plummeting enrollment and, more recently, teacher sick-out protests.
There is a battle playing out between the Michigan Senate and House over how to make sure Detroit Public Schools doesn’t go into bankruptcy.
Instead of the commission to regulate openings, the new plan calls for an advisory board that would produce reports highlighting where schools are needed and study a potential citywide transportation system to serve all students, according to an outline.
Gideon D’Assandro, a spokesman for the Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, says leadership is getting closer to wrangling enough votes to pass the Detroit Public Schools legislation.
“It’s disappointing we’re seeing this massive waste of state taxpayer dollars by throwing money at the Detroit Public Schools system without enacting the needed reforms to help the district succeed”, Greimel said.
“Let’s try to get all of these pieces, but if we don’t, let’s just keep working the issues”, Snyder said.
The main bill was passed by the narrowest margin, 55-53, with eight Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.
The new legislation kept some aspects of both previous plans in the House and Senate.
The Detroit public school system, or DPS, has almost 46,000 students.
“House Republicans are catering to their wealthy and well-connected donors like the DeVos family that want to protect charter schools from any form of accountability”.
The new proposal in the House would schedule a school board election for November.
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It’s unlikely there will be any controls over Charter school expansion, and return of control to a school board will likely be delayed until 2018.
