Gov. Rick Snyder this weekannounced his plan for overhauling Detroit Public Schools. It includes splitting the district and leaving the debt with the old DPS, while a new district would move forward with school operations and education.
I spoke with Susan Demas, publisher of Inside Michigan Politics, and Ken Sikkema, former Senate Majority Leader and Senior Policy Fellow at Public Sector consultants, about the political hurdles Snyder faces in getting this plan through the Legislature.
"What Gov. Snyder also wants is a financial review team like we've seen in the city of Detroit to get things on track not just now, but in years to come. And I think the biggest stumbling block is that people have sticker shock over the $715 million figure that was announced that would take over 10 years," said Demas.
Sikkema added, "I do think the governor should actually be encouraged, though, that the reaction seemed to indicate that everybody realizes that something has to be done because going into bankruptcy is going to be far worse and more costly to the state and state taxpayers."
