The Michigan legislature has passed a series of bills to bail out the Detroit Public School system.
The legislation provides $617 million to the district, which is more than $500 million in debt and is operating in facilities that are decrepit, moldy and in some cases falling apart.
Those bills now head to Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk, who appeared to signal his support for the legislation in a statement released early Thursday.
“The legislation approved tonight represents an unprecedented investment for the education of Detroit’s children. The district’s debt will be fully repaid and the new funding will be used to support teaching kids in their classrooms, instead of being diverted to pay off decades of legacy costs,” he said in the statement obtained by CNN affiliate WDIV.
“This is a new Detroit Public School district. The debt will be gone. The emergency managers will no longer be needed. Local control will be restored, so that new leaders for the district can be chosen this fall by Detroit voters. The same financial review commission that works with the city will assist with making strong investments as the school board stands up the new district.”
The bill’s passage comes after months of back-and-forth with the local teachers’ union, which was angry that teachers had to deal with hazardous working conditions, overcrowded classrooms and, at one point, the possibility of not getting paid for their work.
Teachers protested by staging so-called “sickouts” — calling out sick en-masse in demonstration, as teacher strikes are illegal in Michigan.