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Karmanos Wants Detroit Teachers To Make $125,000 To $150,000

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Fast food workers have been lobbying across the country for $15-an-hour wages, and some Detroit EMTs are tired of risking their lives for $12 an hour.

But one landmark Detroit businessman thinks another group of people, who haven't been making noise about pay increases, deserve a pay hike.

A big, big pay hike.

WWJ's legal analyst talked to Peter Karmanos, founder of Compuware, who believes Detroit teachers should earn $125,000 to $150,000 a year.

"You'd have to make it one of the more esteemed jobs around, they would have to be recognized for being teachers, and you would have to insist that people who sent the kids to your public school system would have to spend some time on those kids' education," Karmanos told Langton.

According to salary.com, teachers in Detroit make an average of $53,149 a year. The basic range is $40, 243 to $68, 852.

A study just yesterday found Detroit's public school children are lagging behind their peers on a national scale.

Results from the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress exam released Wednesday show 5 percent of Detroit fourth graders scored proficient or above in math, compared to about 40 percent nationally and 34 percent statewide.

Six percent of Detroit fourth graders were proficient or above in reading, compared to about 36 percent nationally and 29 percent in Michigan.

Four percent of Detroit eighth graders were proficient or better in math, while only 7 percent were proficient or above in reading, per the AP.

On the other side, it's well known that many school children in Detroit face adversity when it comes to just getting safely to class every day, with statistics showing many have little support for education once they get back home.

Karmanos didn't outline how the city of Detroit, which just emerged from bankruptcy, would boost its teachers pay this much. It's also notable the median household income in Detroit is $26,325, per the U.S. Census Bureau.

The school's current budget is so fragile the state set aside $50 million this summer in case they have to cover debt in the city's troubled district.

For his part, Karmanos said he would create the higher teacher pay with his own school system, called the "mayor's school system."

Better schools would bring more residents and that would really help Detroit grow, Karmanos told Langton.

 

 

 

 

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