The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Michigan:
Another Cynical Rick Snyder Scheme

May 11, 2015

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder wants to split the Detroit Public Schools financially into two separate financial districts, similar to the way General Motors was split into a “new” and an “old” company to protect itself during bankruptcy.

Snyder proposed to create one “old district” that would take on all of DPS’s current debt and to take Detroit tax money to pay off the debt. This is money that was by law supposed to go directly to the schools, but instead would go to the banks, under this plan.

The second part of Snyder’s plan is to take 72 million dollars from the state School Aid Fund, money that would otherwise go to school districts around the state and to give it who knows where? He says the money would go to a second “new” Detroit school district, but that’s no guarantee.

In fact it’s nothing but a cynical way to put the blame for cuts to other districts on Detroit, counterposing Detroit against other school districts, and take Detroit tax money earmarked for Detroit schools, all to insure the banks get a steady stream of money for “servicing the debt.”

Snyder is just the latest in a long line of politicians from both parties, at the state, city, and school district level to push the public schools in Detroit and other cities, into greater and greater debt to the banks.

There is money to pay for the schools, but it’s in the hands of the big corporations and the banks. And it will have to be taken from them.