Governor Snyder Announces Plan to Create New Detroit School District
Snyder’s plan would move all public schools to a new district, and keep the old system to pay off debt.
Governor Rick Snyder is proposing a plan to create a new district for public schools in Detroit, while the old district would be liable for the system’s nearly $500 million in operating debt. Snyder says all of Detroit’s public schools would move to the new system under a seven-member school board appointed by himself and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. Snyder says the current district’s debts would gradually be erased by using funds from an existing millage.
“We would be leaving about $72 million of revenue to go into this ‘Old Co’ entity that would continue with the legacy liabilities, it would have the old Detroit school board, and that they would process the payments to make sure that over a period of time that debt was repaid.”
-Gov. Rick Snyder
Snyder says he is proposing the creation of a new Financial Review Commission to oversee both the old and new school districts. He says, if the legislature approves the plan, he hopes to have the new system in place by next summer.
