Friday, November 15, 2019

Bad math---Michigan Capitol Confidential - Posts

Michigan Capitol Confidential - Posts
Image result for right to be literate"A federal civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of some Detroit public school district students accuses the State of Michigan of denying them what it calls a right to be literate due to poor conditions at their schools. The complaint includes claims about teacher pay in the district that are not correct

The lawsuit claims: “To make up for the shortfall in instructional materials and other basic supplies, including books, pens, pencils, notepaper, and printer paper, teachers in all of Plaintiffs’ schools frequently pay out of their own pockets or privately raise money online. It is not uncommon for a teacher to spend more than a thousand dollars on school supplies in a single year, and some spend as much as $5000, roughly one-sixth of their annual salary.”

That would mean Detroit teachers make $30,000 a year. One-sixth of $30,000 is $5,000. The starting salary for a Detroit teacher was $35,683 in 2016-17, the year the lawsuit was filed. The average Detroit teacher salary was $57,997 in 2017-18.

Also, the state constitution, state laws and Michigan judges have required schools to pay for necessary items including “[p]encils, paper, crayons, scissors, glue sticks” and “[t]extbooks (regular or supplemental),” in the words of a Department of Education rule.

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