Update: Tuesday, 8:47 a.m. -- The total number of school closures is up to 94.
While Lansing lawmakers consider a $715-million aid package to make Detroit Public Schools financially solvent, teachers continue sending a message: Move quicker.
Photos by Metro Detroit AFL-CIO.
For the second straight day, a union-backed sickout Tuesday closed up to 93 of the district's 97 schools, James Dickson of The Detroit News reports. On Monday, the job action shut 94 schools.
On Monday, Michigan House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, tells The News: “At an absolutely critical time for a city on the path to recovery, Detroit’s next generation has now lost more than 1,000,000 instruction hours they will never recover to cheap political stunts.”
The legislative aid package is a bankruptcy-style restructuring bill that would split the district into two entities. One would use millage revenue to pay off the district's debt of more than $500 million, and the "New Detroit Public Schools" would focus solely on educating students.
Judge Steven Rhodes, acting as emergency manager for the district, says teachers can be paid only if the Lansing bills pass.
At Michigan Radio, teacher Sarah Jardine tells Cynthia Canty that some union members want the state to pay for the debt portion incurred while it ran the district. They also want a fully empowered local school board.
