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Steven Rhodes, a
former federal bankruptcy judge, said that $48.7 million in
supplemental funding approved by the Michigan legislature last
month would allow paychecks for all employees only through the
end of June.
He urged state lawmakers to approve a $715 million rescue plan
that would create a new Detroit Education Commission, with broad
authority to control new school openings for the next five
years.
Without passage of the reform package, "there will be no funds
available to pay any of our employees — those teachers on a
26-pay cycle included," Rhodes, who began running the district
in March, said in an emailed statement.
"There also will be no funds available for the District to
conduct Summer School or provide the year-round special
education services that a number of our students rely on."
Rhodes's statement was first reported by the Detroit News. It
said word of Rhodes's warning had come from
Ivy Bailey, interim president of the Detroit Federation of
Teachers. Rhodes had told her earlier in the day about the
inability to meet payroll after June.
Bailey told union members in an email that she was "outraged"
about the news, the newspaper said.
"When Judge Steven Rhodes informed me of this today, I insisted
that we meet on Monday with DPS leadership and financial
officials to develop a solution to this problem," Bailey wrote,
the Detroit News reported.
The Detroit public school system is the largest in Michigan,
with 45,786 students, and has been under state control since
2009.
Rhodes said this month that nearly $64 million in debt payments
were sinking the school district, underscoring the need for a
long-term solution by state lawmakers.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Jacqueline Wong)
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