Lansing — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has agreed to a settlement with Detroit students locked in a nearly four year legal battle with the state for better school and learning conditions.
Whitmer announced the settlement early Thursday morning with a promise for more details of the settlement later in the day regarding access for Detroit students "who faced obstacles they never should have faced."
“This landmark court decision recognizes that every child in Michigan deserves an opportunity to obtain an education, which is essential to having a strong foundation in life and a brighter future," Whitmer said.
In a court filing late Wednesday, attorneys for Whitmer and the students notified the clerk of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that a settlement had been reached that "resolves all of plaintiffs’ claims against all defendants, and thus fully resolves this matter. The plaintiffs will shortly file with the court a motion to dismiss this action in its entirety as moot."
As recently as Wednesday, protesters had urged the governor to reach a settlement in the case, which sought a historic court order ruling students have a constitutional right to literacy.
The lawsuit was brought by seven Detroit students in 2016 who argued they were deprived access to literacy because of a lack of books, teachers and poor building conditions.
On April 23, a federal appeals court panel ruled the U.S. Constitution provides a remedy to “children relegated to a school system that does not provide even a plausible chance to attain literacy."
Earlier this month, Michigan's Legislature had asked the full appeals court to set aside the ruling by the three-judge panel and hear the case due to its "exceptional importance."
The lawsuit has been closely been watched by education, legal and civil rights experts, some of whom have said it could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Detroit activist Helen Moore, who has followed the case in support of the students since its inception, said on Thursday she eagerly awaits the details of the settlement.
"Right now, I'm just happy," Moore said from her home in Detroit. "This is a victory for our kids in Detroit and across the nation. The chain of slavery has been broken by the right to read."
Moore said what is so remarkable about the case is it brought together people who were enemies on other matters but united on the right to a better education for Detroit students.
"There is unity on this issue. With us standing together we can defeat anything," Moore said.
The long-term impact of a substandard K-12 public education is among several legal arguments raised in the high-profile civil lawsuit.
At the time of the lawsuit's filing, the plaintiffs were students at five low-performing schools in Detroit: three schools in the Detroit Public Schools district, which is now known as Detroit Public Schools Community District, and two charter schools.
In an interview with The Detroit News last fall, plaintiff Jamarria Hall described conditions inside Osborn High School, a Detroit public school, where he graduated at the top of his class in 2017.
Hall said teachers failed to show up for class for days and students were sent to the gymnasium to watch movies. Classrooms lacked textbooks. And no one, from students to teachers to administrators, seemed to care about the inferior learning environment at his school.
Hall, now 19 and living in Florida, recalled the moldy smell of the school hallway, dead mice in the bathroom, water falling from the classroom ceilings into buckets or onto students' heads.
"Is this really school? Is this really education? Is this how it is supposed to be?" Hall told The News. "How am I going to go to college and write a five-page essay ... when I’ve been watching movies or going down to the gym?”
Legal experts had been split on the case's ability to ultimately set a new precedent that would change the way states are required to deliver education in America. The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly guarantee the right to education, and the nation’s highest court so far has not weighed in.
Patrick Wright, vice president for legal affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said if the settlement involves a one-time cash infusion, the governor has the authority to make that if it's within her appropriations budget. Wright said he does not know the terms of the settlement.
"In the long run, it's going have to mean more money," Wright said.
He said whether a federal judge is going to be able to achieve better results than education experts, local and state education officials and millions of dollars in past education funding have not, is dubious.
"Detroit (schools) clearly needs major improvement on what it is doing. The results there have been atrocious," Wright said ahead of the settlement announcement on Thursday. "We have tried so many different ways. I don’t think having a federal judge in it will be a better result."
The students had tremendous support from the more than 45 amicus briefs filed in the case that urged the federal appeals court to declare the education being provided to children in Detroit is separate and unequal compared to its well-resourced neighbors, and that a lack of literacy dooms children to a future with low earnings and no voice in a democratic society.
The state of Michigan has fought the lawsuit since it was filed first against Gov. Rick Snyder and then Whitmer when she became governor, countering that decreased student enrollment triggered a loss of money to Detroit schools and that the state is not responsible for what happened in the district during two decades of on-again, off-again oversight.
Whitmer's opposition to the suit was not related to the question of a student's right to literacy, said Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for Whitmer. The Democratic governor had argued the state should not be culpable because Detroit public schools are now back under local control, she said.
“Although certain members of the state Board of Education challenged the lower court decision that students did not have a right to read, the governor did not challenge that ruling on the merits,” Brown told The News in an earlier story. “We’ve also regularly reinforced that the governor has a strong record on education and has always believed we have a responsibility to teach every child to read.”
Craig Thiel, director of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, said he will be looking for details on the financial implications of the settlement.
"It is likely going to be something that applies more broadly than just Detroit. How can you say that Detroiters are the only ones entitled to this new right? You can’t," Thiel said ahead of the settlement announcement.
"Detroit was likely the test case, but other districts — Flint, Benton Harbor — are exactly where Detroit is in terms of student achievement and with some of the same state oversight history."
Two Detroit students not involved in the case said Thursday they were shocked and happy that a settlement had been reached, but concerned whether it would be enough to bring true equity to education systems in Detroit that have been ravaged by disinvestment for decades.
Laila Nasher, a senior at Detroit charter school Universal Academy, said the lawsuit is something she and other activists have been focused on for nearly four years.
"Everyone has recognized education as an equalizer. But it will take decades to actually fix," Nasher said.
At her school, Nasher said she did not have art supplies or musical instruments. High school students only had two AP classes to pick from and 30 of the 33 teachers there were long-term substitute teachers, she said.
"If this case was settled earlier, this would have helped fixed that," Nasher said. "We know when that many subs are teaching that many core classes we are not learning. I always wanted to learn how to play an instrument."
Emily Wilson, a senior at Cass Tech, said she thinks it's a shame it took so long to bring a settlement in the case. She said her school with 2,500 students could use more social workers.
"It's a great feeling that this is a possibility. We will have to see what the details are and what's in it," Wilson said. "It may be what we want but not all the way. There is always a catch."
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