Detroit Students Win A Small One Against Bobb and Broad

As I have reported several times on this blog, Detroit Public Schools (DPS) Financial Manager Robert Bobb has been slashing and burning DPS, closing up to half of its schools, and raising high school class sizes to 60 students per class. Bobb has not limited his axe to schools. He has also been cutting arts, music and other programs at many schools. At Southeastern High, students decided to fight back against cuts to their music program with walkouts and a press conference, ultimately winning the right to perform at a statewide choir competition. The following is based on the reporting of Danny Weil, from Daily Censored, and Diane Bukowski, from the Voice of Detroit.

Bob Bobb insisted that cutting the arts/music program (along with his other cuts) was necessary to keep the district solvent. The students insisted he was wrong, walking out of school three times in order to prove it. They also engaged in a sit-in at their school where they were maced by the police. Ultimately they won authorization to compete in the Michigan School Vocal Music Association Choral Festival on March 11.

Bobb was installed as a financial manager ostensibly to help get DPS’ finances in order. In reality, he has helped worsen DPS’s financial problems, increasing the system’s debt from $200 million when he arrived, to $327 million today, according to Michael Winerip of the NY Times. Meanwhile, 8,000 students per year are fleeing the district, costing the district $58.4 million per year. For this financial mismanagement he is paid $425,000 per year.

Last week, the Michigan legislature approved a bill that would allow financial managers like Bobb terminate the teachers’ contract. On the other hand, he could simply convert all the remaining schools into charters and terminate their contract this way. Currently, 50% of Detroit students are already in charter schools, and there has been talk of converting the remaining schools into charters. Last Saturday, Bobb presented a plan to convert one-third (41) of DPS schools into charters.

All this might seem hard to believe except that Bobb is a disciple of Eli Broad, the billionaire charter school funder and union-basher (and Detroit native). Bobb is a graduate of Broad’s Superintendents Academy (class of 2009), a 10-month training program that teaches CEOs and other business types how to squeeze as much profits as possible out of public school systems. Bobb receives a portion of his generous salary ($56,000) from the Broad foundation, which would appear to be a conflict of interest since Broad supports private charters and Bobb has been facilitating their creation in Detroit, yet a judge ruled this ok last year.

Bloomberg Threatens Cuomo: Kill Teacher Seniority, Or Else!

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded that Gov. Andrew Cuomo use his upcoming state budget to reverse teacher seniority rules. Bloomberg hysterically claimed that current state law could force him to fire all 5,000 teachers hired in the past five years. “If the budget contains education cuts. . . it must also take merit into account.”

Bloomberg and Cuomo Duke It Out (Image by Bruce Turner)

Bloomberg cynically made the demands in front of a mostly African American crowd at the Christian Cultural Center in Flatlands, Brooklyn, telling them that the budget cuts would mostly affect low income communities, where higher percentages of new teachers work. Of course, if Bloomberg really cared about low income kids, he’d donate some of his billions, no strings attached, to make up for any budget shortfall.

Cuomo’s office said that seniority is not a fiscal issue and not one he plans to touch during budget planning, though he is not opposed to overhauling the seniority system once he is done slashing of social programs (especially if it will help him get to higher office).

Nearly One-Third of Working Americans are Poor

According to a new report by the Working Poor Families Project, nearly one-third of working families are now considered low-income (earning less than 200% of the official poverty level). This means that even many who have jobs are struggling and barely able to make ends meet. The report also found that there were over 10 million low income workers in the U.S. last year, with 45 million Americans (22 million children) living in low income homes (an increase of 1.7 million from 2008). Meanwhile, the richest 20% of families took home 47% of all income.

It is clear that the recession has impoverished many through job loss. The ranks of the working poor, however, have remained largely invisible while growing larger. Corporations have used the recession as a justification to cut pay, benefits and hours of employment, implement furloughs, and hire short-term temps. More than half (55%) of adult workers have suffered unemployment, a pay cut, a reduction in hours, or have been forced to work part-time, since the recession began in 2007. As a result of corporate cut backs, productivity has risen, and corporations have earned record profits, giving the illusion that the economy is healing, while workers’ income is actually declining.

Concurrent with this immiseration of working families has been an orgy of money grubbing by the wealthiest Americans. In addition to the billions of dollars in year-end bonuses to bankers and stock brokers, there were billions more in tax breaks. The estate tax was set to rise from 0 to 55% for estates worth over $1 million, before a small cabal of 14 billionaires (including Gallo, Koch, Walton, Mars) convinced congress to raise the ceiling to $5 million, and only charge 35% for anything above that.

Tax cuts, bail outs and endless war, have all contributed to an increasing federal budget deficit, which will soon be reduced by cuts to social programs that benefit the poor and working class. These cuts will no doubt come from medicare, education, and social security.