Dive Brief:

• A new federal lawsuit alleges Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is causing harm to the state's students with his appointment of more than one emergency school district manager in Detroit.
• Snyder is also embroiled in another recent lawsuit charging him with racketeering in relation to the water crisis in Flint.
• Students in the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) have faced deplorable school conditions that include a lack of heat, rodent infestations and black mold in classrooms; the new lawsuit alleges that student performance has suffered dramatically under the district's new emergency management.

Dive Insight:

Back in January, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan visited four DPS school buildings in the wake of massive teacher "sickout" protests against overcrowded classrooms and dangerous school conditions.

Snyder previously proposed splitting the district in half. The district has been under emergency state management for the last eight years, yet state-appointed emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools, Darnell Earley, resigned early. Federal authorities are also investigating alleged vendor kickbacks in the Snyder-created Education Achievement Authority district. That initiative is considered a failure by many, since it failed to turn around DPS's worst-performing schools.

One new emergency manager for DPS, Steven Rhodes, was appointed in March; it is unclear if he's named in this new lawsuit. Previously, Detroit Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers sued DPS and Earley over unsafe learning conditions. 

Two state bills, Senate Bills 710 and 711, are based on Gov. Snyder's controversial ed reform plan. A funding crisis in the district includes a $515 million operating debt and total debt of more than $3 billion; many expected DPS to run out of money to pay teachers this month.