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The state's
Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved the bill
package, sending the legislation to the state Senate which could
take up the legislation when it convenes on Tuesday, according
to online records.
“This plan saves Detroit’s school system and returns local
control to the city, preventing a disastrous bankruptcy that
would have affected every community in the state," House Speaker
Kevin Cotter, a Republican, said in a statement.
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.
The Detroit public school system, or DPS, has nearly 46,000
students. It has been under state control since 2009 because of
a financial emergency. Thursday's legislation comes less than a
month before DPS was expected to run out of money to pay
employees.
House Democrats said in a statement that the legislation would
force the closing of DPS schools and allow failing charter
schools to "proliferate."
“House Republicans are playing games with the Detroit Public
Schools, and the children of Detroit are the ones who will
lose,” House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel said.
Democrats also opposed the legislation because it does not
include a Detroit Education Commission, a body that would work
to prevent low-performing schools from opening and ensure
schools are placed in underserved areas, MLive.com reported.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee Editing by Jeremy
Gaunt.)
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