Detroit Gives Cash Advance of $70 Million to Its Schools

Detroit schools driving on bent rims

President Obama is committed to improving the quality of American schools, and few cities are in need more more help than Michigan’s Detroit Public School system. Their cash flow problems have been so severe that not only has the quality of education for Detroit youth slipped significantly, but teachers and staff have been working while worrying about whether Detroit Public Schools will even be able to make payroll.

Jennifer Mrozowski of The Detroit News reports that the Michigan Department of Education will give Detroit Public Schools a cash advance of $69.8 million to ensure that payroll and other operating expenses are met.

Robert Bobb has much to do

Bobb, the district’s new emergency financial manager, asked the State of Michigan to advance its aid by a few days so that the district would not have to worry about being short of funds to pay its employees. This comes after Detroit Public Schools already had requested and received two $19 million cash advance payments on state aid for July and August of 2008. That enabled them to pay employees at the time.

Bobb doesn’t mistake the mountain before him for a molehill. “As you are aware, I have just arrived at the District, and have undertaken to assess a wide-ranging set of complicated budget issues for the District,” he wrote in his March 5 request for additional state aid. “The requested advance would afford me additional time to become familiar with the District’s finances without having to address an immediate payroll crisis.”

The education children deserve

Mrozowski writes that Bobb “doesn’t want employees to be concerned about whether they are going to get paid when they should be focusing on job performance.” Clearly that’s exactly what the children of Detroit deserve. What the teachers deserve is a system that understands their value and supports them. However, if the teachers are part of the problem, President Obama has a fix for that…

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