$4M to let Highland Park kids finish year
School board won’t oppose a reappointment of manager
By Dawson Bell and Bill Laitner Free Press Staff Writers
Emergency legislation to provide $4 million to allow students in the Highland Park schools to complete the school year despite the district’s insolvency was approved Thursday by the Legislature. Gov. Rick Snyder will sign the measure into law “as soon as he gets it” on his desk, a spokeswoman said.
The legislation provides a supplemental 2012 appropriation of $4,000 for each student enrolled in Highland Park, money that could be used to maintain current operations under new management or to follow students who transfer elsewhere.
On Thursday night, the Highland Park school board voted not to oppose reappointment of an emergency manager to oversee the district — expediting a likely decision by Snyder, as early as today, to return outside oversight.
The Legislature’s move was backed by Snyder and Republican legislative leaders who said it was the only viable option to keep Highland Park’s students in school with minimum disruption to their lives and education.
Democrats, who voted almost unanimously against the bill, called the resolution shortsighted and ideological and predicted that chaos and uncertainty will continue.
House Minority Leader Rep. Richard Hammel, D-Flushing, said Republicans rejected a proposal that would have allowed the Wayne County intermediate school district to assume operations in Highland Park, allowing students to complete the school year without changing schools and teachers.
But the bill’s supporters said it would allow an outside entity, including an intermediate district, to take over the district under an agreement with Highland Park’s emergency manager. What Democrats objected to, according to Ari Adler, spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, was also giving students the option to transfer to another district or charter school.
Bolger and his House colleagues were adamant that no additional funding be provided to the Highland Park school board or administration.
“We’re not going to obligate taxpayers to pay one more dime for a dysfunctional school district,” said state Rep. Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville.
The district has an $11-million deficit, is under the on-again, off-again control of a state-appointed emergency manager and is unable to pay its bills. Employees are not expected to receive paychecks today as scheduled.
Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said the governor was pleased by the action, but many uncertainties remain.
“We’re trying to minimize disruption … and keep the kids in school … in their own buildings if possible,” Wurfel said. But she said there was no guarantee an alternative arrangement would be finalized quickly enough to avoid temporary suspension of classes.
Legislative Democrats said they believed the district would be handed over to Detroit Public Schools, which also is in a financial crisis and under emergency management. In fact, Highland Park is surrounded by districts and charters in deficit. In addition to DPS, the Hamtramck Public Schools is in deficit, as is North Pointe Academy, a charter school.
But before oversight could be transferred to any other entity, it’s almost certain to be returned to an emergency manager — and that could happen as soon as today, district officials and some state legislators said.
“I can assure you, our message has gotten to Lansing,” Highland Park school board President Robert Holloway said Thursday night following the board’s 5-0 vote not to challenge reappointment of an emergency manager.
“The rest is up to the governor. He could appoint someone at any time” to resume emergency control of the district, Holloway said. Parents and students in the audience said they wonder each day whether the schools will be open.
“I’m just hoping I can finish my year here,” said Tiquarius Bell, 14, a ninth-grader at Highland Park Community High School.
“I don’t know what to do,” said his mother, Veronica Brown, 32, who has four children in the district’s schools.
Some in the audience opposed the board’s vote and castigated the board. “They say the teachers won’t get paid. … You should go to jail for that!” shouted Juanita Midds, 65, whose granddaughter is an 11th-grader.
But more applauded the vote and called for reappointment of Jack Martin, a CPA named by Snyder last month to run the district who was removed when the appointment was ruled illegal under the state Open Meetings Act.
The ruling to suspend Martin came after two lawsuits challenging the secrecy of the appointment process were filed by Highland Park school board Secretary Robert Davis, who skipped Thursday’s meeting. Davis skipped the meeting because his voting would have been a conflict of interest with his lawsuits, Holloway said.
State Sen. Bert Johnson, who attended the board meeting, said he wasn’t happy to see the board cede control to Lansing. Earlier, at a Highland Park recreation center, Johnson led a meeting of speakers opposed to emergency managers. School officials could only have delayed, but not stopped, having an emergency manager reappointed, he said.
The district’s officials are only partly to blame for the fiscal mess, added Johnson, who represents Highland Park, Hamtramck, Harper Woods, the Grosse Pointes and part of Detroit.
“Just like in the Detroit Public Schools, there’s some mismanagement, some corruption, some long-standing abuses that everybody allowed to happen,” he said. “But the bigger problem has been long-term disinvestment,” he said, as the areas lost population, jobs and state revenue sharing.
" CONTACT DAWSON BELL: 517-372-8661OR DBELL@FREEPRESS.COM . LORI HIGGINS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
State Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, said he wasn’t happy to see the school board cede control to Lansing.
Highland Park likely can’t pay teachers
Lawmakers won’t advance state aid
By Megha Satyanarayana and Dawson Bell Free Press Staff Writers
Highland Park teachers likely will not get paid this week, and state lawmakers said Wednesday that the district won’t have access to state funds unless it reinstates its emergency manager.
The latest twist comes amid continued legal wrangling about the validity of emergency managers and as — for the third time in six months — Highland Park Schools cannot meet its $220,000 payroll.
After advancing the district its state aid payment twice to cover its expenses, lawmakers said they will not advance state aid a third time. The state Legislature is crafting a bill to either merge the district with another, or bring in charter operators.
“We’re done dealing with the Highland Park school district,” said Ari Adler, spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall. He said authorizing funds to be spent directly by district officials “is not going to happen.”
Highland Park Schools came under state scrutiny in August, after multiple years of operating in a deficit. Although the district has shrunk from some 3,179 students in 2006 ago to 989 in January, spending per student has outstripped revenue and many of the district’s children are residents of Detroit.
On Jan. 27, Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Jack Martin, former chief financial officer for the U.S. Department of Education, to run the district. Several days later, a school board member filed a suit alleging that meetings held by the financial review team that recommended an emergency manager were in violation of the open meetings act.
Last Wednesday, a Lansing judge agreed with that assessment, invalidating Martin’s appointment. Lawyers on both sides are still trying to iron out the details of the ruling. In response, the state held a public meeting Wednesday for the financial review team to go over its findings again, and the team again recommended an emergency manager be placed over the district.
At the meeting, members of the financial review team said that without an emergency manager, the district may not makeit through the school year.
Treasury Department Spokesman Terry Stanton said it was unclear when Martin or another emergency manager would be reinstated.
During his short tenure, Martin had kept the board and superintendent in their jobs, which Public Act 4 invalidates.
“He didn’t come here with a big stick,” said board member Alma Greer. “We were working in collaboration. He was working with the citizens. This puts us in a precarious situation.”
A district in limbo isn’t sitting well with students and their families.
“I don’t want to repeat seventh grade again because of some choices that people made,” said Kiara Smith, 12, a student at Barber Focus School.
Her brother, DeAndre Ross, 19, said he was concerned that switching schools mid-year would mess up his credits and keep him from graduating.
Deputy Superintendent of the Michigan Department of Education Carol Wolenberg said the department would do its best to make any transition seamless for students.
But Robert Davis, a Highland Park board member who filed a motion to halt the meeting Wednesday and who filed the open meetings act suit, said the financial review team’s recommendation is still invalid because the team met eight times.
“They have to redo all eight meetings,” Davis said. “What the review team attempted to do today has no effect. This unlawful action will be invalidated as well.”
PUBLIC HEARING
State Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, will hold a public hearing tonight in Highland Park to discuss state-appointed emergency managers.
The hearing will be held at 6p.m. at the Ernest Ford Recreation Center, 10 Pitkin. It will include testimony by officials from Pontiac; Flint; Benton Harbor; Highland Park; River Rouge, and Detroit —all of which have emergency managers or are at risk of having one appointed.
-BILL LAITNER
BOARD MEETING
Highland Park Schools will hold a special board meeting today to discuss the recommendation that an emergency manager be reinstated. It will be at 7 p.m. at district headquarters, 20 Bartlett. For information, call 313-957-3000.
KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/DETROIT FREE PRESS
DeAndre Ross, 19, a student in Highland Park Schools, is concerned that switching schools mid-year might prevent him from graduating.
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