LANSING, Mich. -- State lawmakers have approved a controversial plan that allows the Detroit mayor to appoint a new board to revamp the city's embattled schools, home to 180,000 students.
Gov. John Engler is prepared to sign the bill, his spokesman said. Engler has cited poor test scores, high dropout rates and crumbling buildings as signs that Detroit Public Schools needed help.The school district had a dropout rate of 26.4 percent in 1997, and the four-year graduation rate is a dismal 29.7 percent.
The reform proposal is similar to what has been done in Chicago, Cleveland and other cities.
But the proposal sparked weeks of debate and caused deep divisions in Detroit, where hundreds of parents spoke out in protest. Many were outraged that a white governor and mostly white Legislature would try to oust a school board elected by a city that is 75 percent black.
The bill, passed 31-7 in the state Senate on Thursday, gives Mayor Dennis Archer, who is black, 30 days to appoint six Detroit residents to oversee city schools. None of the current school board members is eligible for the reform board.