[We forwarded Sara Mead's recent Quick and the Ed post on the Detroit Federation of Teachers' job action and got this response from the DFT's Michelle Price.]

Yes, it is true the Detroit Public School district has lost money in recent years – some of it due to a decline in student enrollment brought on by several factors, including the relocation of families, but a substantial part of it is due to long-term mismanagement.  For example, last year, members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) made nearly $63 million in concessions because the district said it was broke and needed to buy time to get its financial house in order.  Feeling for the students and as usual willing to be part of the solution, DFT members agreed to freeze sick days, forgo step increases and loan the district five pay days.  Imagine our surprise when nearly four months after the agreement was reached, the district issued raises to its principals and assistant principals.  If that wasn't enough, teachers and students were hit with a larger than usual amount of crime-related incidents at Detroit Public Schools last school year for which the district still has yet to find an answer.

As far as public support goes, press coverage and actually community sentiment are two different things.  The local NBC news affiliate conducted two recent surveys – one during the first week of the strike, the other during the second week.  Both surveys found nearly 75 percent of the public supports teachers in their efforts to bring improvements to the classroom – and yes, that includes paying teachers a comparable wage to teachers in surrounding districts in order to attract and retain the best and the brightest.  The DFT believes its students deserve that.  Parents have shown overwhelming support, which doesn’t surprise us, since they know what goes on in the school buildings.  They are, after all in the buildings day in and day out just like teachers.  Parents know when a teacher goes into his or her own pocket to pay for school supplies to enhance their child’s learning and this happens on a regular basis in Detroit Public Schools. 

The truth is, the school district receives nearly $1.4 billion in funding from the state and federal governments every year.  In addition to that, it receives between $64 million and $68 million in so-called "special purpose funds" to be used for at-risk students.  Could the Detroit school district use more money?  Yes.  But what it receives now is enough to do a good job of educating our students and getting the classrooms right.

We appreciate you not blaming teachers for all of the problems here.  But we also felt compelled to correct your "facts."