Democrats assailed the legislation, which does not include a Senate- and Snyder-endorsed commission to make decisions about opening traditional schools and independent, publicly funded charter schools.
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The 46,000-student DPS has been run by state-appointment emergency managers since 2009.
“Under the guise of ‘choice, ‘ the House package continues a 20-year trend of allowing low-performing schools to enter the market and replicate wherever and whenever they want, hurting good schools, neighborhoods and kids”, Armen Hratchian, vice president of Excellent Schools Detroit, said, referring to charter schools. He plans to push the state Senate to restore the Detroit Education Commission ahead of next week’s expected vote on the package of bills.
Snyder said he continues to support a package previously passed by the Senate that provided more transition funding to the district and included the December.
Almost a third of 113,000 students living in the city attend a charter school in Detroit or surrounding areas, which has prompted criticism that they are being opened largely unchecked to the detriment of a district with too many schools in some areas and too few elsewhere.
But House Republicans and many charter school advocates adamantly oppose inclusion of the DEC, calling it another layer of bureaucracy that would inject too much politics into the DPS district.
Legislation passed by the state House on Thursday would send $617 million to Detroit schools, but the money could go to waste, according to the city’s mayor, without a commission that would oversee both public and charter schools.
The plan includes a $150 million loan to help create to a new district.
The legislation also includes fines for teachers or administrators engaging in strikes, which are illegal for public employees in MI.
The ailing district has been managed by the state for seven years, during which it has faced plummeting enrollment and, more recently, teacher sickout protests. It wasn’t clear when there would be a House vote. It was approved after hours of closed-door talks, with lawmakers voting 55-53 on the central bill. The House plan may include $467 million to pay Detroit Public Schools debt and $150 million to help a new district in the city transition. The $617 million figure comes from a summary proposal obtained by The Associated Press.
One key difference is the creation of a Detroit Education Commission, which the Senate supports and the House does not.
Detroit schools ranked in the state’s bottom 5 percent would be closed under the legislation, as would schools consistently given an “F” under a new accountability system to grade schools on an A-F scale starting in the 2017-18 academic year.
The legislation has the state paying off $467 million in operating deficit incurred by the cash-strapped school system and providing $125 million to create a new debt-free school district, the news website MLive.com reported.
Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, said Meekhof needed to speak with GOP senators but “he thinks this latest plan is a realistic compromise between the House and Senate proposals”.
The Senate previously backed $200 million in spending to launch a new district, the House $33 million.
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The measure would schedule a school board election for November. The legislation is on Thursday’s agenda, but GOP legislative leaders and the Snyder administration say no final agreement has been reached.
