Moore v. School Reform Bd. of City of Detroit
| Decision Date | 25 October 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-74438.,99-74438. |
| Citation | 147 F.Supp.2d 679 |
| Parties | Helen MOORE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. SCHOOL REFORM BOARD OF THE CITY OF DETROIT, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
George Washington, Sharon McPhail, Detroit, MI, for Plaintiffs.
George Bushnell, Jerome Watson, Detroit, MI, Thomas Wheeker, Rick Mathew, Lansing, MI, for Defendants.
This matter came before the Court at a hearing on October 3, 2000, on 1) Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment; 2) Defendants Adamany's, School Reform Board's, and Archer's Motion for Summary Judgment; and 3) Defendant Governor Engler's Motion for Summary Judgment. For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is DENIED, and Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment are GRANTED.
Plaintiffs filed this suit challenging the validity of the Michigan School Reform Act, 1999 Public Acts 10 and 23, which brought about the suspension of the old Detroit Public School Board and the creation of a new Detroit Public School Reform Board.
Plaintiffs include the following residents of the City of Detroit: Helen Moore, Agnes Aleobua, Stephen Conn, George Frazier, and Mariatu Sesay. Plaintiffs also include the following incorporated and unincorporated associations of Detroit residents: The Baptist Ministers' Conference; The Black Slate, Inc.; The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action by Any Means Necessary; The Community Coalition for Empowerment, Inc.; The Eastside Ministers United in Action; The Keep the Vote—No Takeover Coalition; The Million Man Alumni Association; The Strike to Win Quality Education Caucus; United For Equality and Affirmative Action; and The Westside Ministers Alliance. Plaintiffs filed this suit on September 13, 1999, challenging the School Reform Act against the following Defendants: The School Reform Board, established by 1999 Public Act 10; Dr. David Adamany, former Chief Executive Officer of Detroit Public Schools;1 Dennis Archer, Mayor of Detroit; John Engler, Governor of Michigan.
The School Reform Act, effective March 26, 1999, amended the Revised School Code, Mich.Comp.Laws Ann. § 380.1 et seq., to establish school reform boards for qualifying school districts. Mich.Comp. Laws Ann. § 380.371-.471a. A "qualifying school district" was defined as a school district with a pupil population of 100,000 or more. Id. § 380.402. The Act provided that the mayor of any "qualifying school district" must appoint six of seven members of the school board within thirty days. Id. § 380.372(1) & (2). While a majority of the board must be composed of school electors of the qualifying school district (i.e. Detroit residents), others who are non residents may be appointed to the board as well. Id. § 380.372(3). The seventh member of the reform board is the Superintendent of Public Instruction, selected by the State Board of Education, or his designee. Id. The Act suspended the powers and duties of the existing school board, id. § 380.373(1), and disqualified the existing school board members from appointment to the new School Reform Board. Id. § 380.372(3).
Public Act 10 provided that the new School Reform Board would appoint, by unanimous vote, a Chief Executive Officer for the district. Id. § 374. However, effective May 12, 1999, Public Act 23 amended § 374, by providing that the Reform Board appoint a CEO by a 2/3 majority, instead of by a unanimous vote. The Superintendent of Public Instruction maintained a veto power over the vote to appoint the CEO. The Chief Executive Officer was empowered to exercise all of the powers and duties previously vested in the elected school board. Five years after the initial appointment of the Reform Board, the question of whether to retain the Reform Board and the CEO and whether to retain the authority of the mayor to appoint the board under the Act shall be placed on the ballot. Id. § 380.375.
The only school district in Michigan that currently falls under the statute's definition of a "qualifying school district" is the City of Detroit. The Legislature was aware that the Act would affect the Detroit Public Schools. Senator Dan DeGrow, who sponsored the bill, explained that the Act's purpose was to improve the education for a large number of Michigan students.
There are approximately 180,000 students in the Detroit Public Schools. To put it in perspective, the next largest school district is Grand Rapids, which has around 27,000 students..... I hope that gives you the idea of the magnitude of what happens when children aren't provided the educational opportunity they deserve and how that has repercussions throughout the state, just because of the magnitude.
It has been said by someone else that Detroit is not the worst school district in the state and I won't dispute that, but when you have a district with 180,000 students, and you look at the class of 1998 and see 71 percent missing in action, one has to wonder what happens. Where do those young people go? What is their future; what does this mean for the state of Michigan? ....
We've waited a long time in this state for improvement, we've heard a lot of new plans—new plans have been coming out of there since I've been down here as a legislature (sic) since 1981. I think it is time for fundamental change—major change that will give these 180,000 thousand (sic) students the opportunity to achieve a quality education. They do not have it now and the repercussions to this state and to those students are severe.
Defendants' Exhibit D, Journal of the Senate, No. 17, March 2, 1999, at 249-50. While the Act currently only applies to the Detroit Public Schools, the Legislature has since clarified its original intent that the School Reform Act applies to any school district that qualified on the date of enactment and to any school district that may become qualified. 2000 PA 230.
Pursuant to the School Reform Act, the old Detroit school board was suspended and a new Reform Board was established. Mayor Archer appointed six members of a new school board, some of whom were non-residents of Detroit. The seventh member of the Reform Board is the Superintendent of Public Instruction, selected by the State Board of Education.
The Reform Board came about as a result of a desire to improve the Detroit Public Schools, a school system many had identified as in distress. In 1997, the old school board initiated a study of the Detroit Public School System. The board asked New Detroit, Inc., a non-profit group whose mission is to improve the social and economic status of Detroiters, to conduct this study and to provide specific recommendations for improvement. New Detroit constituted a Review Panel, and the Panel spent hundreds of hours studying the Detroit Public Schools. In July 1997, the Review Panel issued a report. The report found serious problems with the governance, administration, management, finance, and operations of Detroit Public Schools. The report also noted that Detroit Public Schools students score poorly on achievement tests and that Detroit Public Schools suffers from a high drop out rate. The report recommended immediate and fundamental change at every level. "[There is] an immediate need for a fundamental restructuring of Detroit Public Schools' organization and for dramatic changes in the way people do their jobs at every level of the system." Defendants' Exhibit A, A Plan for Fundamental Change at 10.
To accomplish the changes contemplated by the Panel, the DPS must launch its restructuring without delay and continue the hard work consistently for years to come. Failure to take decisive action now will further erode the system's credibility and, eventually, cost it the community's faith and backing.
Id. at 3. The Review Panel recommended that the school board appoint an independent implementation team to act swiftly. "[T]he Panel feels strongly that significant and necessary changes must occur over the next year." Id. at 30.
The old schoolboard formed an Implementation Team to institute the Panel's recommended changes, changes directed toward the goal of ensuring financial integrity and increasing student achievement. While some progress was made, it was slow and difficult. "[W]ork on the six first year objectives remains uncompleted." Defendants' Exhibit B, Implementation Team's First Year Report at 1. The Implementation Team noted that the school board needed to accelerate the pace of change and to be an aggressive advocate of the needed reforms. Id. at 1-2, 23. It was under these circumstances that the Legislature determined that the pace of change was too slow and it passed the School Reform Act to establish the new School Reform Board.
In May of 1999, the Reform Board appointed Dr. David Adamany as CEO. Pursuant to the Act, within ninety days after his appointment, Adamany was required to develop a school district improvement plan, detailing academic, financial, capital, and operational strategies, goals, and benchmarks. In July of 1999, Dr. Adamany presented a Preliminary School Improvement Plan to the Reform Board. Defendants' Exhibit E, Preliminary Plan. The Preliminary Plan, like the New Detroit Review Panel, indicated that Detroit Public Schools was in deep distress. It noted that Detroit students are graduating at two-thirds the rate of other Michigan students, and that eleventh graders are over 27% behind the state average in reading and writing, over 41% behind in math, and over 38% behind in science. The Plan indicated that none of the Detroit Public Schools fiscal or administrative operations met acceptable standards and that Detroit Public Schools facilities are...
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Berry v. School Dist. of City of Benton Harbor, 4:67-CV-9.
...1419, 1421 (6th Cir.1994), and is consistent with certain conclusions reached by other courts. See Moore v. School Reform Bd. of the City of Detroit, 147 F.Supp.2d 679, 688 (E.D.Mich.2000) (school districts have no powers or functions except as provided by the State); East Jackson Public Sc......