Detroit teachers on strike

Robert Reich - Detroit teachers are out again today in a protest against deplorable conditions in the Detroit public schools. The “sickout” has closed roughly two-thirds of the 100-odd schools serving about 46,000 students. Teachers point to rodent-infested buildings, dripping water, non-working toilets, mold, broken windows, crumbling ceilings, broken locks, as well as over-crowded and unsafe classrooms -- and the failure of state lawmakers to agree on a plan to rescue a system teetering on the edge of insolvency and breakdown. Over $3,000 of the $7,296 per-pupil funding the school district gets from the state is now going to service its debts – 41 cents on the dollar. Which explains why the schools are falling apart.