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by Luther Blissett » Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:57 pm
by 23 » Mon Feb 21, 2011 8:31 pm
State education officials have ordered Robert Bobb to immediately implement a financial restructuring plan that balances the district's books by closing half of its schools, swelling high school class sizes to 60 students and consolidating operations.
This week, Bobb, the district's emergency financial manager, said he is meeting with Detroit city officials and will set up a meeting with Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency to discuss consolidation opportunities in areas such as finance, public safety, transportation and other areas.
Bobb also is preparing a list of recommended school closures and Friday said layoff discussions are under way and would be announced closer to April, when notices would be issued. "We are moving forward with the plan," he said "Right now my focus is on my transition plan and the DEP (deficit elimination plan)."
Bobb's last day with DPS is June 30. After that, the state plans to install another financial manager who must continue to implement Bobb's plan, according to a Feb. 8 letter from Mike Flanagan, the state superintendent of public instruction.
In the letter, Flanagan said the Michigan Department of Education gave preliminary approval to Bobb's plan to bring the 74,000-student district out of its financial emergency. As a condition of approval, Flanagan said Bobb cannot declare the district in bankruptcy during the remainder of his contract.
Bobb, appointed emergency financial manager in March 2009, filed his deficit elimination plan with the state in January, saying it would wipe out the district's $327 million deficit by 2014. On Feb. 9, he told state lawmakers the plan is the only way DPS "can cut its way out" of its legacy deficit.
At the same time, Bobb said he doesn't believe the proposal is viable because it would drive more students away, exacerbating the district's financial emergency. But on Friday, Bobb confirmed he is working to implement the plan that will shrink the district to 72 schools for a projected 58,570 students in 2014.
"I believe the district can work its way out of these challenges," Bobb said. "It will take some time. I am firm believer we have to continue to make the deep cuts, and they are going to be painful. In the long run, the district will be stronger. There can be no retreat."
Bobb said he continues to work on an alternative plan — one similar to a General Motors-style restructuring — but has yet to release details or announce a sponsor for such a bill.
"Whatever comes out of the transition plan and whatever my new thinking is will be a part of that," he said.
District needs loan access
Earlier this month, Bobb told members of a joint House and Senate education committee he needed legislation to assure the district's continued access to loans to stave off insolvency.
The district needs $219 million by March, and its bond insurer, Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., wants the state to guarantee DPS won't file for bankruptcy. Bobb told lawmakers the district has no such intentions.
Bobb has said school closures, bigger classes and other measures would be needed if he cannot get help from lawmakers to restructure finances in the state's largest school district. DPS considered but declined to file for bankruptcy in 2009 Experts say DPS has an uphill battle for financial stability.
Revenue is down dramatically, enrollment losses average 8,000 students a year and pension and health care costs weigh on the district.
And the bad news continues. Among DPS' fiscal challenges: An expected loss of $273.87 in its per-pupil foundation grant of $7,660. The loss is the result of a projected 83 percent property tax collection rate in Detroit for fiscal 2011. Last week, Gov. Rick Snyder proposed a $470 per-pupil cut for all Michigan districts.
A general fund budget strapped with annual fixed costs such as $52.6 million in pension costs, $44.6 million for health care, $26.8 million in utilities, $6.6 million in public safety and $3.5 million in unemployment. Continuing enrollment declines. DPS has lost 83,336 students in the last decade, leading to a loss in state aid of more than $573 million.
The district's deficit grew by $100 million in the last year — to $327 million — forcing it to deepen its reliance on short- and long-term borrowing, which costs DPS $55 million a year in principal and interest payments.
New business model
Patrick Anderson, founder of the Anderson Economic Group, a Lansing-based economic consulting group, said DPS has no choice but to change its business model — dramatically.
"If this was a businesses entity, it would be in perilous straits and probably headed to bankruptcy," he said. "When 50 percent of your customers leave and a substantial amount of revenue goes toward paying debt, the survival of your enterprise is in doubt."
Anderson said he doesn't fault lenders for having a lack of faith in DPS, given its deep history of fiscal mismanagement. "The question is, does the state want to indicate it will get itself further on the hook for a unit of local government that has mismanaged itself financially?" he said.
DPS slashed $548 million in requests for fiscal 2010, and Bobb said he expected the budget of about $1.2 billion to be balanced.
Steve Wasko, a DPS spokesman, said the district then learned of the following revenue losses: a $7 million property tax charge-back from Wayne County after the bankruptcies of the Greektown Casino and General Motors, an $11 million drop in state aid from property tax shortfalls and the loss of $9 million as a result of the state's early retirement incentive program.
Increased expenses included $23.6 million for the recall of employees scheduled to be laid off, $72.2 million in unrealized labor savings and $9.1 million in unrealized savings when some school closures were canceled.
All told, the unexpected revenue losses and cost increases led to a deficit for fiscal 2010 of $113 million, Wasko said.
Last week, state Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, proposed a bill that would give the emergency financial manager the power to cancel government or teacher union contracts. DPS spends nearly two-thirds of its budget on personnel costs, or $677 million a year.
State Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc, chairman of the joint House and Senate Education Committee, said there are concerns about the state taking on the district's liability.
"I don't feel the taxpayers of Michigan are willing to become liable for that money with all the structural and institutional problems that exist," Scott said.
"We need a long-term solution for public schools for Detroit and the state," he said. "We just don't have the solution right now."
by justdrew » Mon Feb 21, 2011 8:51 pm
by chump » Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:49 pm
by Laodicean » Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:57 pm
by Pele'sDaughter » Tue Mar 22, 2011 4:11 pm
by elfismiles » Thu Apr 14, 2011 3:31 pm
by Jeff » Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:42 am
Detroit to send layoff notices to all its public teachers
Thu Apr 14, 2011
(Reuters) - The emergency manager appointed to put Detroit's troubled public school system on a firmer financial footing said on Thursday he was sending layoff notices to all of the district's 5,466 unionized employees.
In a statement posted on the website of Detroit Public Schools, Robert Bobb, the district's temporary head, said notices were being sent to every member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers "in anticipation of a workforce reduction to match the district's declining student enrollment."
Bobb said nearly 250 administrators were receiving the notices, too.
The district is unlikely to eliminate all the teachers. Last year, it sent out 2,000 notices and only a fraction of employees were actually laid off. But the notices are required by the union's current contract with the district. Any layoffs under this latest action won't take effect until late July.
In the meantime, Bobb said that he planned to exercise his power as emergency manager to unilaterally modify the district's collective bargaining agreement with the Federation of Teachers starting May 17, 2011.
Under a law known as Public Act 4, passed by the Michigan legislature and signed by the state's new Republican governor in March, emergency managers like Bobb have sweeping powers. They can tear up existing union contracts, and even fire some elected officials, if they believe it will help solve a financial emergency.
...
by elfismiles » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:25 am
Officials: Detroit girl taken in standoff doesn't need meds right now
12:19 AM, Apr. 14, 2011
Authorities have determined there is no emergency need for a 13-year-old girl to be on medication, after the girl's mother was accused of medically neglecting her by not giving her a psychotropic drug.
The girl has been in state custody since Child Protective Services workers showed up to take her, prompting an hours-long standoff between her mother and police.
Judge Lynne Pierce said during a hearing in Wayne County's juvenile court Wednesday that a jury trial in the case will begin June 8.
The girl's mother, Maryanne Godboldo, is accused of firing a gun at officers when CPS came to her Detroit home take her daughter.
Godboldo has said she should have the right to decide treatment for her daughter, whom she was weaning off the drug in favor of holistic methods.
Though officials said Wednesday that there was no immediate need to give the girl medication, Michigan Assistant Attorney General David Law said he may reintroduce the issue later if the need arises.
"They took her unlawfully," Godboldo said after Wednesday's hearing.
Godboldo has said she noticed changes in her daughter's behavior after a series of immunizations in 2009.
Mia Wenk, a CPS worker, testified earlier this month that she filed a petition containing multiple allegations of neglect, along with the order to take the child into protective custody, two weeks after she became involved in the case March 10.
An amended version of the petition was submitted to the court earlier this month.
Pierce will rule on emergency motions by defense attorneys on April 22.
Godboldo's attorney, Wanda Evans, has filed motions to dismiss and to relocate the child from a care facility in Northville, where she has been since shortly after the standoff with police ended March 25.
Pierce requested the child's advocate find out whether the girl can be medically discharged and placed with a qualified family member.
"I'd love to get this child into a family member's home," but the court, Pierce said, "has to follow the law."
http://www.freep.com/article/20110414/N ... -right-now
elfismiles wrote:NATION RALLIES BEHIND MOTHER ACCUSED OF STAND-OFF WITH POLICE TO PROTECT CHILD FROM DANGEROUS DRUG
http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=5998
Police use Assault Weapons and Tank against Home School Mom wanting to protect daughter from Dangerous Medications
http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/police ... dications/
Mother trying to protect child from unnecesary drugging (Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmCV2HPU5o
Godboldo's child stays in state custody (Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvldDZVv3zk
SWAT Attacks Home School Mom for Refusing to Force Med Child
http://www.infowars.com/swat-attacks-ho ... med-child/
by Jeff » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:59 am
April 15. 2011 1:00AM
Detroit library could close most of its branches
Christine MacDonald and RoNeisha Mullen / The Detroit News
Detroit —The Detroit Public Library could close most of its neighborhood branches and lay off more than half of its workers because of an $11 million shortfall caused by plunging tax collections.
One month after laying off 80 workers, library administrators said deeper cuts are needed and outlined three options: Shut 18 of 23 branches and lay off 191 of the remaining 333 workers; 15 branches and 163 workers; or 12 branches and 135 workers.
...
The list of targeted branches stretches throughout the city and could force residents to drive several miles to one. The most severe option leaves the entire northeast side of Detroit without a branch. And that's outraged users who have been flocking to the system in part because of the economy. Visits rose 20 percent since 2007 to 4.9 million a year.
"It's a tragedy. It's a great sin that should be made a crime," said Shirley Beaupre, 83. "The library has to be put in our priorities."
She was at the Skillman library downtown Wednesday, where nearly all computers were in use and residents were stunned that the branch is on the closure list. Lee Ray, 57, said he visits three to four times a week and understands budget cuts, but calls the proposal "extreme."
"There's really no other public place for people to go," Ray said.
...
by elfismiles » Fri Apr 15, 2011 10:12 am
Jeff wrote:April 15. 2011 1:00AM
Detroit library could close most of its branches
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110415 ... s-branches
And this is happening in places doing far better than Detroit...
Proposed Budget in Texas Nearly Zeros Out Key State Library Funds
...
"A wholesale slaughter"
The proposed budget would eliminate:
• direct aid grants to public libraries statewide by reducing the Loan Star Libraries program's funding from $16.2 million in FY10/11 to $100,000 in FY12/13;
• all state funding for TexShare, a collaboration established in the early 1980s among public and academic libraries administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission that provides access at a reduced price to online resources, from $9.5 million to $600,000. This also would eliminate the K-12 database program for Texas public schools and their libraries.
"This is categorically different," Castro said. "We've had lean years but this is a complete elimination. It's just absolutely nutty here; we've been getting phone calls left and right about it."
The proposal would also eliminate the state law library and put at risk about $8 million in Institute of Museum and Library Services funds, which are the sole funding source for the state's regional library systems and interlibrary loan (ILL), because Texas would fall below the "maintenance of effort" threshold that is a requirement for the federal money.
"It's a wholesale slaughter," Peggy Rudd, the state librarian, told LJ. "I've worked in three states, and I have never seen a starting point like this for budget negotiations."
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/8 ... y.html.csp
by brekin » Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:58 am
Quote:
Detroit to send layoff notices to all its public teachers
Thu Apr 14, 2011
(Reuters) - The emergency manager appointed to put Detroit's troubled public school system on a firmer financial footing said on Thursday he was sending layoff notices to all of the district's 5,466 unionized employees.
In a statement posted on the website of Detroit Public Schools, Robert Bobb, the district's temporary head, said notices were being sent to every member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers "in anticipation of a workforce reduction to match the district's declining student enrollment."
Bobb said nearly 250 administrators were receiving the notices, too.
The district is unlikely to eliminate all the teachers. Last year, it sent out 2,000 notices and only a fraction of employees were actually laid off. But the notices are required by the union's current contract with the district. Any layoffs under this latest action won't take effect until late July.
In the meantime, Bobb said that he planned to exercise his power as emergency manager to unilaterally modify the district's collective bargaining agreement with the Federation of Teachers starting May 17, 2011.
Under a law known as Public Act 4, passed by the Michigan legislature and signed by the state's new Republican governor in March, emergency managers like Bobb have sweeping powers. They can tear up existing union contracts, and even fire some elected officials, if they believe it will help solve a financial emergency.
...
MUSKEGON – Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is asking for expanded powers for emergency financial managers, equating the system of rescuing troubled schools and local governments with private companies getting help through bankruptcy.
Snyder said he wants to sign the revamped system into law this week if the Michigan House and Senate can come to a compromise on different details in two versions of the bill.
The governor told The Muskegon Chronicle Monday that he wants the declaration and appointment of emergency financial managers to be rare, but when needed he wants a system that will be swift and effective.
“The best equivalent to look to is what would happen if you had a bankruptcy situation,” Snyder said in a telephone interview with Chronicle editors during his one-hour morning commute from Ann Arbor to Lansing.
“In many respects, we are roughly in that same situation,” the governor said. “It really is a financial disaster. The goal there is how to go through it as quickly as possible and get it back to a normal operating procedure.”
The current emergency financial manager law needs to be changed to allow the state to consult with financially troubled cities, townships and school districts before a crisis arises, Snyder said. The idea is, if a financial manager is needed the time taking over a public entity would be quick, he said.
“My goal is to have an early warning system so you never really need a (emergency financial manager),” Snyder said. “If you have an EFM, you've reached a failure point. You need a plan to put into place to do difficult things but to do them before you reach that status.”
Officials in Muskegon Heights and state Rep. Marcia Hovey-Wright, D-Muskegon, have been following the emergency financial manager issue. Both the city of Muskegon Heights and the Muskegon Heights Public Schools have had several years of operating with deficit budgets.
Changes to the law have been criticized by Democrats, labor leaders and urban municipal officials because once taken over by the emergency financial manager elected officials could be removed from office and contracts including labor agreements dissolved. Certain versions of the bill caused opposition in what the emergency financial manager could be paid and whether a company instead of an individual can be appointed.
Snyder said the idea of appointing a company or corporation to take over the city or school is no longer in the bill, but he said he would not discuss specifics until the Legislature comes up with a final bill.
The emergency financial manager has been imposed in “less than 1 percent” of the state's schools and local governments, Snyder said. However, the governor's proposed budget makes some dramatic cuts in state-shared revenues to local governments and per-pupil state aid to schools that could throw other governments and schools into financial crisis.
Snyder said he has two specific suggestions on how local governments and schools can overcome the state funding cuts. He said he will provide more details on his proposals for government reform in an address next week and school reform in April.
Schools and local governments need to increase employee contributions to medical benefits to move them from the current zero to 10 percent employee cost sharing to 20 percent paid by the employee for health benefits, the governor said. That is a level Snyder said is common in the private sector.
And secondly, schools and local governments need to be more efficient in their buying practices to reduce costs. The combination of the two, if implemented at the local level, could offset most of the state funding reductions, Snyder said.
Other suggestions on government reform — both at the state and local level — will come next week.
“We will be talking about best practices, accountability, transparency, employee benefits and then service consolidation and service sharing,” Snyder said of his government reform message.
Beyond government and school reforms, the number one issue the new Republican governor has put before the Michigan Legislature is budget and tax reform. Snyder has called for: elimination of the Michigan Business Tax; a new 6 percent corporate income tax; taxing senior citizens' pensions; and budget cuts that would result in a balanced budget.
“The goal is to create jobs, and those jobs are for all of us,” Snyder said. “We need to get our economy going to help the underemployed and the structurally unemployed get work. It is about letting us all succeed together.”
The pension tax will help steady the finances of state government which will create a Michigan in which young people will want to stay and raise families, the governor argues.
“It is in the best interest of all Michiganders that we do these reforms,” Snyder said. “We will keep working on budget and tax reform because we do need significant revisions. As people look at various issues that tend to affect them, hopefully they will keep looking at the big picture.”
by Pele'sDaughter » Tue Dec 27, 2011 6:52 pm
by Elvis » Wed Dec 28, 2011 6:12 am
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