Ethics Newsline®

DETROIT
Detroit’s public school teachers last week voted to go on strike, forcing the district’s 172,000 schoolchildren to wait while teachers and school officials wrangle over a range of pay and workplace issues.

The simmering dispute boiled over last week after the teachers’ union refused to accept an extension to their teaching contract.

The teachers are demanding pay raises, a reduction in red tape, more classroom resources, and smaller class sizes — demands largely supported by Detroit-area parents, the New York Times reported.

Recent figures show that Detroit’s teachers earn roughly $10,000 less than the Michigan average, that Detroit spends $4,000 less per student than elsewhere in the state, and that less than one-third of the district’s students actually graduate, CNN reported.

Detroit’s mayor and governor, who wrested control of the ailing school district from an unpopular school board earlier this year, insist that they are working as hard and as fast as they can to improve school conditions.

But teachers say more needs to be done, and that a proposal to link teachers’ pay to students’ performance is unfair, according to CNN.

State officials warn that layoffs and stiff fines may result if the strike, illegal under Michigan law, continues through this week.