On Wednesday, Mayor Mike Duggan said
that the right plan for the Detroit Public School System is a compromise
between the plans proposed by Governor Rick Snyder and the Coalition for the
Future of Detroit Schoolchildren. Mr. Duggan stated that he predicted the
financial situation of the district when the first emergency manager appointed
by former Governor Jennifer Granholm, Robert Bobb, announced his plan to lay
off district employees and close schools.
The estimate created by Mr. Bobb
stated that the district’s budget would be in a surplus by 2010; however, this
estimate assumed that enrollment in the district would not drop, which
according to Mayor Duggan was to be expected with the cuts made. Through
attempts to refinance the district and the accumulated debt, the district was
left spending $161 million on debt payments and $268 million on payroll.
The Mayor agreed with Governor Snyder
that removing the debt from the school operations through the creation of a new
district was the responsible way to handle the issue at hand. He did disagree
with the Governor’s idea that appointing a school board, stating that this
would continue the enrollment losses throughout the district and lead to
continued destabilization.
The Mayor continued saying that the
concentration of high schools in the downtown region of Detroit was detrimental
to the education system, as few schools covered the east and west thirds of the
city. He argued that the transportation function that the Detroit Education
Commission proposed was incredibly important, as nearly 30 percent of the
families in the Detroit school district do not own cars.
While on Mackinac Island, the
Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren pushed those in attendance
to urge their legislators to take action on a plan to help not only Detroit
Public Schools, but also schools throughout the state. Tonya Allen, co-chair of
the coalition, said that the state could not afford to let the Detroit Public
School system dissolve.