Detroit plans to close 23 schools, prompting teachers, staff, and parents from those schools to protest the plan at a meeting Thursday. The school closings would displace 600 teachers. Detroit's emergency Financial Manager, Robert Bobb, proposed the measure in response to a $306 million budget shortfall. His plan would provide $200 million to schools not being closed; those schools would need to take on the students from the targeted closures. Parents have expressed anger and concern over the affects of the teacher layoffs, which would result in larger class sizes and overcrowding.
See "Detroit school closings plan raises ire", United Press International, April 9, 2009