Superintendent of the WAY Academies talks about veto of per-pupil funding increase

The Superintendent of the WAY Academies, Madeline Black, made a speech yesterday during a press conference organized to express the unhappiness about Governor Gretchen Whitmer's veto of the $240 increase in per-pupil funding for charter schools.

"In my career, I had the pleasure of serving the students at public charter schools and traditional public schools", Madeline said. "This issue is not about whether you are pro-charter or anti-charter [schools]. The fact is charter schools exist. The facts are charter [schools] serve a high percentage of low-income students. That fact is 50% of these students reside in the cities of Flint and Detroit, and these communities struggle with high levels of poverty."

Ms. Black went on to say that the "veto of the $240 increase [per pupil], for my schools, almost equals 200 thousand dollars" and asks the governor to acknowledge "the harm your veto has created, and restore the $240 per-pupil funding for charter schools immediately."

Watch the video below:

As a response, the governor's office released a statement, saying that "The budgets Governor Whitmer received were fatally flawed, and she had to make tough decisions to keep our families and communities safe and help Michiganders access critical services that they rely on every day. If Republicans want to come back to the table to negotiate changes to the budget she signed, she is ready to talk."