August 06, 2004
August 6, 2004
LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today signed House Bill 4508 into law, bringing to an end the state takeover of the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) and allowing Detroit voters to determine the powers of their elected school board in November.
"This legislation guarantees an elected school board in Detroit and ensures that Detroiters, alone, will decide what is best for their schools and their children," Granholm said.
Under the substitute version of the legislation authored by State Senator Buzz Thomas of Detroit, no state appointee will sit on the board, nor will the state have veto power over the selection of the Detroit school superintendent. The legislation gives Detroit voters a choice in November between a traditional elected school board and an elected board with the power to approve a CEO selected by the mayor of Detroit.
In 1999, the Legislature passed Public Act 10 which removed the traditional school board in Detroit and replaced it with six mayoral appointees and a seventh seat going to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction or his designee. The law also said that Detroiters would vote in November 2004 on whether to keep an appointed school board or return to the traditional board.
