Rutledge removes name as sponsor as school district dissolution bills pass House
State Rep. David Rutledge, D-Superior Township, says he regretfully opposed House Bills 4813 and 4815, which deal with dissolving financially struggling school districts.
Rutledge removed his name as a sponsor Thursday as both bills passed 58-49 in the House and now move to the state Senate.
David Rutledge
He actually introduced HB 4813 and co-sponsored HB 4815 with Republican colleague Bill Rogers, which he said was an effort to come to the negotiating table and work on meaningful reforms in a bipartisan way. But Rutledge said the dialogue broke down, and other legislators refused to compromise and moved forward without his support.
"My goal with this legislation was to help the parents, the teachers and, most importantly, the children of these struggling districts move forward so those kids could continue receiving the education they deserve," Rutledge said in a statement.
"It saddens me deeply that I have to oppose these bills and remove my name from the sponsorship of House Bill 4813."
Rogers, R-Brighton, talks about Thursday's House passage of the school dissolution legislation in an audio clip posted on his website. Listen to the audio clip.
HBs 4813 and 4815 put the decision of whether a district can deal with its debt at the sole discretion of the state treasurer and superintendent.
Rutledge said the bills discourage local school boards from engaging in other efforts to save their districts, such as loan modification. In addition, school districts deemed financially insolvent could be absorbed into the Education Achievement Authority, an entity running 15 troubled schools in Detroit.
Schools also could be handed over to a charter operator to be run on a for-profit basis, putting the bottom line ahead of education, Rutledge argued.
"Too many of our schools are in dire straits financially, but these bills don't get to the root of the problem, which is the severe funding cuts these schools have seen in the last few years," Rutledge said. "Instead of dealing with how to dissolve a district, we should be working to restore the necessary funding so we can properly educate our children."
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
Comments
Wondering
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 10:09 p.m.
And if we Michiganders aren't savvy enough to know how to handle that situation, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Self-serving, short-sighted, poorly conceived policies run state economies into the ground--because no one wants to live there, and therefore no one wants to invest there. The folks with choices go elsewhere--in droves. The business community in Michigan should be leading the charge for better thinking and more thoughtful policies at the highest levels of our government, if the business community of Michigan wants to survive.
Wondering
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 10:02 p.m.
Very sad--the governor and the State House have totally lost it--totally out of touch with reality--the laughing stock of the rest of the country. And, of course, the consequences for the Michigan economy have been and continue to be absolutely devastating. Who will choose to invest in a state passing one incredibly short-sighted and ill-conceived policy after another? One would hope that all those school districts on the verge of bankruptcy because they can't get their education allocation from the State have voters? We Michiganders certainly ought to be savvy enough to know how to handle governors and legislators who have so lost touch with reality that they are becoming the laughing stock of the rest of the country.
ThinkingOne
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 5:32 p.m.
'HBs 4813 and 4815 put the decision of whether a district can deal with its debt at the sole discretion of the state treasurer and superintendent.' Sounds like another way to just avoid dealing with anyone who is elected. From an earlier piece, I had though that this would be another option for the local school board of the distressed district to pursue. You know, something that could be tried BEFORE the state comes in and tells everyone what is going to happen. Silly me. And of course it adds the possibility of the charter school 'option'.
YpboyWRheart
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 4:03 p.m.
I have no confidence in you after the Ypsilanti takeover of Willow Run.
seasons
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 1:43 p.m.
There is something very troubling about the march to dissolve public school entities based upon insufficient funds due in part to the stripping of funds by the Governor which then leads to either stripping off the assets and "selling" the system to the charter for profit entities or merging it into a mega-system. This mega-system has yet to be vetted but is apparently going to exist anyway. In Lansing, who is advocating for the students to ensure that quality education is being made available for all students? The AAPS is moving towards charging students at one school for numbers of classes available for free at other schools. Pay to play - school sports already exists. Isn't it past time to start making major efforts to support our public school system, to start investing in improvements rather than de-vesting and destroying the system? Tax cuts for the wealthy/business entities don't even begin to assume the same value as investments in quality education systems for our next generations of decision makers, community participants, workers, and parents.
ladybug1
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 4 p.m.
I agree. It is also troubling when supporters of these 2 bills call school staff names from the House of Rep. floor.
OLDTIMER3
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 1:03 p.m.
What happens to all the money the State Lotto supposedly pays into the Michigan school system? Line to many pockets along the way.
Jeff Frank
Mon, Jun 17, 2013 : 7:01 p.m.
I'm sure that the lottery money goes to schools, as mandated, but I'm equally sure that the various state legislatures through the years have hacked and chopped the contribution from the general fund by far more than than the lottery has brought in. That wasn't what the people were promised, but since no one bothered to write a mandate for continued general fund money into the lottery law, the politicians exercised the loop hole to fund other "more worthy" projects. A pox on both their houses! Republican or Democrat, most are nothing more than self-serving plutocrats or plutocrat wannabes.
maallen
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 2:33 p.m.
It would be great if annarbor.com could do an article on how much of the State Lotto actually makes it to the schools. How big is the State Lotto department? How many employees does it have? How much are they paid? How big is their budget? How much do they pay their vendors? I am sure it will be eye opening for many of us.
sandy schopbach
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 10:27 a.m.
"Too many of our schools are in dire straits financially, but these bills don't get to the root of the problem, which is the severe funding cuts these schools have seen in the last few years," Rutledge said. "Instead of dealing with how to dissolve a district, we should be working to restore the necessary funding so we can properly educate our children." Ah yes, BUT as the article also pointed out: "Schools also could be handed over to a charter operator to be run on a for-profit basis, putting the bottom line ahead of education, Rutledge argued." And THAT is the real purpose of this law: to take as many public school as possible off of the budget so there's no outlay, and more importantly to put them into the hands of private entities who can make money off of the students... and who are very often friends of - or at least linked to - the politicians making these very decisions. If THAT isn't nepotism, I don't know what is!
Basic Bob
Sat, Jun 15, 2013 : 1:16 a.m.
He's now worried about saving useless overhead. With a state mandated teacher-student ratio, it's not the classroom teachers who would be losing jobs.
Gorc
Fri, Jun 14, 2013 : 10:33 p.m.
"Too many of our schools are in dire straits financially, but these bills don't get to the root of the problem, which is the severe funding cuts these schools have seen in the last few years," Rutledge said. Throwing more money towards some of these schools will not fix their issues. Mr. Rutledge needs to be honest with himself and identify what the "root of the problems" truly are.
ManA2
Fri, Jun 14, 2013 : 5:16 p.m.
Wow. He cosponsored a Bill that he apparently thought was so flawed that he wouldn't vote for it unless he got significant changes made? Am I reading that correctly? Maybe there is something procedural that I don't understand that would make this make sense, but otherwise, it sure feels like somebody changed his mind for him.
Steve Pontoni
Fri, Jun 14, 2013 : 10 p.m.
h
Alan Goldsmith
Fri, Jun 14, 2013 : 4:44 p.m.
"He actually introduced HB 4813 and co-sponsored HB 4815 with Republican colleague Bill Rogers, which he said was an effort to come to the negotiating table and work on meaningful reforms in a bipartisan way. But Rutledge said the dialogue broke down, and other legislators refused to compromise and moved forward without his support." So which word describes this: clueless or naive? I can't decide which one. Just the traits I look for in a Democratic Party leader.