“I was extremely disappointed to hear of Detroit Public Schools (DPS) emergency manager withholding federal grant funds from employee pensions, given that a large percentage of the money that comes out of the district’s per-pupil allocation goes to pension payments. This is a serious malfeasance which raises concerns for the state legislators who are committed to crafting policies that will lead DPS to success. It further substantiates the need to have an audit of the district, from 1999 until now, to gain an accurate picture of its debt, what the next steps are to ensure transparency and accountability, and how to adequately fund the district in order to move forward. I look forward to meeting with Judge Rhodes to gain more insight on how this happened and how to prevent this in the future.”