DPS plan: Detroit voters would elect new school board
Lansing — Detroit voters would get to elect a new city school board in November following the appointment of an interim board charged with starting a debt-free school district under legislation overhauling Detroit Public Schools to be introduced Thursday.
Gov. Rick Snyder and Mayor Mike Duggan would get to jointly appoint the nine-member interim school board with five and four appointees, respectively, according to a draft of the legislation obtained by The Detroit News.
The legislation, expected to be introduced in the Senate, abandons Snyder’s earlier proposal to create a Detroit Education Commission with power to open and close any public school operated by DPS or independent charter schools.
The new Detroit Community School District’s board would be comprised of seven members elected by City Council districts and two at-large members, according to the draft legislation.
The interim board would get to hire a new superintendent of the school district. The newly elected school board would take control of the district in January 2017.
Detorit’s existing elected school board has been largely sidelined since 2009 as the financially and academically troubled district has been under state-appointed emergency management.
The initial two bills being introduced Thursday do not address how to fix the Detroit school district’s debt, said Sen. Geoff Hansen, R-Hart.
“We’ve got a couple of options we’re working on,” Hansen told The News. “We’re trying to avoid using school aid.”
Hansen is chair of the Senate’s K-12 appropriations subcommittee. Republicans and Democrats have voiced opposition to tapping the School Aid Fund to bail out DPS at the expense of Michigan’s other 1.5 million schoolchildren.
Snyder has asked lawmakers for $515 million to pay off DPS operating debts, unpaid pension obligations and overdue vendor bills. He also wants another $200 million for DPS plan: Detroit voters would elect new school board: