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State Rep. Al Pscholka
This isn't going to be easy.
Kathleen Gray of the Detroit Free Press reports that state House Appropriations Committee passed a plan Tuesday to address the financial woes of the Detroit Public Schools that left Democrats and Detroiters angry.
The vote came on the second days of sickouts by teachers protesting the lack of funding for the schools.
Gray writes:
The House plan, which passed mostly on party line votes with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposed deviates wildly from a package passed by the Senate in March. It includes money to pay off the district’s $515 million debt and a $33 million loan to cover costs of the district, including teacher pay, until October. “Teachers you’re going to get paid,” said state Rep. Al Pscholka. “The future of the Detroit’s school children is on the line. We’ll step up. We’ll act. We’ll be adults in the room.”
“The future of the Detroit’s school children is on the line. We’ll step up. We’ll act.”
State Rep. Al PscholkaIt does not include $200 million in transition costs that are needed when the district is split in two – a new district to handle the day-to-day operations of the district and the old district kept in place to pay off the debt over a period of years.
Pscholka said the transition money wasn’t needed, but Democrats strongly disagreed, Gray reports.
“I’m absolutely outraged that we’re penalizing students and teachers. There’s such a racist undertone still. We’re allowing things in Detroit that aren’t being pushed across the entire state,” said Rep. Brian Banks, D-Detroit, according to the Freep.
Without the full transition costs, he said “It sets DPS up for failure because we haven’t adequately funded the issues and concerns.”
