Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the plaintiffs in the Gary B. literacy case signed a settlement agreement that resolves all of the plaintiffs’ claims against all of the defendants. The case brought into question whether students in Detroit have a fundamental right to literacy. The lawsuit was filed against former Governor Rick Snyder in 2016. Other defendants include the Michigan Department of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, individual Board members, and the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget.

Details of the settlement include:

• The Governor agrees to propose legislation during her first term that would provide Detroit Public School Community District with at least $94.4m of funding for literacy-related programs and initiatives.
• The state agreed today to provide $280,000 to be shared among the seven-individual student-plaintiffs to access a high-quality literacy program or otherwise further their education. These funds will be held in trust by the Detroit Public Schools Foundation for the student-plaintiffs. The state also agrees to provide $2.72m to be paid to DPSCD to fund various literacy-related supports.
• The Governor will request the Michigan Department of Education to advise school districts throughout the state as to how they might use evidence-based literacy strategies, initiatives, and programs to improve access to literacy and literacy proficiency, with special attention to reducing class, racial, and ethnic disparities.
• The governor will receive recommendations from two Detroit-based tasks forces that will be created to help ensure a quality education for students:

• • The Detroit Literacy Equity Task Force will be created outside of state government to conduct yearly evaluations around literacy in Detroit and will provide state-level policy recommendations to the governor. This task force will include students, parents, literacy experts, teachers, a paraprofessional, and other community members.
  • The Detroit Educational Policy Committee will focus on the stability and quality of the overall educational ecosystem in Detroit; the accessibility of a quality school to all children in Detroit; and school improvement, facilities, teaching, and educational materials. The governor will either create this advisory body or recognize an already existing body to perform this function.

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