DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – The Detroit public school district has spent $3.7 million of the $94.4 million settlement it received from the state Legislature over the “right-to-read” lawsuit.
The Detroit school board approved in June accepting the settlement from the state Legislature that was in the K-12 budget. The district stated it plans to spend $31.4 million of the settlement this year and has a three-year plan. The school board received an update recently on the lawsuit settlement and how much money had been spent through Oct. 15.
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The biggest expenses for the district include as much as $30 million to spend on academic interventionists for grades K-4. The district has already spent $2.6 million on hiring 253 academic interventionists, who work directly with teachers and help students with reading and math.
Chrystal Wilson, spokeswoman for the Detroit school district, said the academic interventionists are full-time employees funded through literacy lawsuit and working with students one-on-one to improve literacy foundational skills.
The district also wants to spend as much as $19.3 million on hiring additional teachers, with $8 million of that money dedicated to K-3 classes. The district has hired 62 extra teachers so far using the settlement money.
Detroit schools wants to pay as much as $4.1 million in merit pay and $1.5 million for “hard to staff” bonuses for positions that don’t get many applicants.
In 2016, a group of students filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state education system claiming they didn’t receive a minimum level of education while attending Detroit Public Schools Community District. The lawsuit was settled in 2020 but the money wasn’t appropriated by the Legislature until this year.
Detroit public schools test scores have been the lowest among large cities tested by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) since 2009. The NAEP test is known as the Nation’s Report Card and is done every two years.
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In 2023-24, just 11.7% of Detroit third-grade students were proficient in reading in state testing. The state average was 40%.
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