Lori Higgins, and Keith Matheny

Detroit Free Press

A massive teacher sick-out shut down 94 schools in Detroit Public Schools today, as teachers protested Saturday's news that the district won't be able to pay them past June 30.

The district enrolls about 46,000 students in 97 schools.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers on Sunday called for the mass sick-out of the district's 2,600 teachers.

DPS emergency manager Judge Steven Rhodes told the union Saturday that unless the state Legislature approves sending more money to the district, there is not enough in the coffers to pay teachers their already-earned salaries after June 30. Summer school and extended special education services would also be canceled.

Update: Rhodes denies telling teachers pay would go past June 30

Hundreds of DPS teachers protest over pay, call for audit

Teachers said they had been told that the $48.7 million allocated by the Legislature last month to fund the district through June 30 would cover summer pay for the approximately two-thirds of district teachers who signed up for a plan that allows for paychecks year-round instead of just during the school year. Rhodes denied that earlier today.

During a visit to Flint this morning. Gov. Rick Snyder, referring to the sick-outs, said: “That’s not a constructive act with respect to getting legislation through. That probably raises more questions … with legislators.”

DPS, which has been under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager since 2009, has an operating deficit of $515 million. A $715-million education reform package to help keep the district afloat is currently being debated in the Michigan House of Representatives. The state Senate approved the package in March.

Detroit teachers union calls for district-wide sick-out Monday

The district announced the following schools are closed:

• Academy of the Americas

• Ann Arbor Trail

• Bagley

• Bates

• Bennett

• Blackwell

• Bow

• Breithaupt

• Brewer

• Ronald Brown

• Bunche

• Burton International

• Carleton

• Carstens

• Ben Carson

• Carver

• Cass Technical High School

• Chrysler

• Clark

• Clippert

• Roberto Clemente

• Cody: Medicine and Community Health

• Cody APL

• Cody DIT

• Communication & Media Arts High School

• Cooke

• Crockett CTC

• Davis Aerospace

• Davison

• Detroit College Prep

• Detroit International Academy

• Detroit Lions Academy

• Detroit School of Arts

• Dixon

• Dossin

• Douglass Academy for Young Men

• Charles Drew Transition Center

• Durfee

• Earhart

• East English Village

• Edison

• Duke Ellington

• Emerson

• Fisher Lower

• Fisher Upper

• Fleming Early Childhood Center

• FLICS (Foreign Language Immersion & Cultural Studies)

• Gardner

• Marcus Garvey

• Golightly

• Golightly CTC

• Gompers

• Greenfield Union

• Harms

• Henderson

• A.L. Holmes

• Hutchinson

• Jerry L. White

• J. R. King

• Keidan

• King High

• Ludington

• Mackenzie

• Mann

• Marquette

• Mason

• Thurgood Marshall

• Maybury

• Moses Field Center

• Munger

• Neinas

• Nichols

• Noble

• Osborn College Prep

• Osborn Evergreen

• Osborn Mathematics and Science

• Palmer Park

• Pasteur

• Priest

• Pulaski

• Randolph HS/CTC

• Renaissance

• Paul Robeson

• Sampson

• Schulze

• Spain

• Thirkell

• Mark Twain

• Vernor

• Wayne Elementary

• Westside Academy

• Western International

• Charles Wright Academy

• Coleman Young

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651 or lhiggins@freepress.com