By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
LANSING, MI –
Governor Granholm says she hopes the Legislature will wrap up negotiations very soon on a plan to convince thousands of veteran teachers to accept retirement offers. She first called on the Legislature to get a retirement deal wrapped up by April 1, then April 15, and then May 1. But Granholm says she won't set a new deadline.
"We've run over deadline after deadline so I'm reluctant to say another one, but truly, when you just think about it from a management point of view, from just being practical, if you are the superintendent of a school district and you've got to hire, especially in the larger districts hundreds of new teachers, you are jamming it if you go much later," she says. "That's just the bottom line."
The governor says schools and the state are counting on the savings to avert teacher and staff layoffs. The state School Aid Fund is short an estimated $420 million in the coming fiscal year.