Detroit Public Schools were expected to reopen Wednesday, welcoming tens of thousands of students back to their classrooms after two days of widespread closures due to teacher sickouts over pay.
“Classes will resume for the district’s more than 46,000 students on Wednesday,” officials said in a statement Tuesday night.
At a membership meeting of the Detroit Federation of Teachers late Tuesday, union leaders urged teachers to return to work. They said that Steven Rhodes, the school system’s state-appointed emergency manager, had assured them in writing that teachers would be fully paid for their work.
“We’re happy to return to the classroom and finish the year with our kids,” said Ivy Bailey, interim president of the DFT, in a statement.
The financially troubled school system has said that — unless state lawmakers pass a bailout plan — it won’t be able to make payroll over the summer, leaving many teachers uncompensated for work during the school year.
About two-thirds of Detroit teachers receive their annual salary in 26 installments, according to the union, and they risk not being paid for any work they do after April 28.
In a letter to teachers Tuesday, Rhodes wrote that the school system “recognizes the contractual obligation to pay teachers what they have earned and we assure all teachers that we will honor that legal obligation.”
It’s not yet clear where the money will come from. State lawmakers are still divided on how to address the challenges in Detroit schools, which have been under state management since 2009.
The Michigan Senate in March passed a $715 million fix that would resolve the school system’s debt and create a new, debt-free school system. But on Tuesday, the GOP-led House appropriations committee passed a smaller $500 million package that many Democrats feared would resolve neither the issue of missing summer paychecks nor the district’s structural problems. The legislation now heads to the House floor.
The House version, unlike the Senate package, includes a provision that would end current collective bargaining agreements and limit what could be negotiated in the future Detroit school system. Rep. Henry Yanez, D-Sterling Heights, said, in describing his opposition, that the measure would “legislatively bust the union.”
