Opponents of Michigan’s emergency manager law want the law repealed as anti-democratic.
Well, it does allow an appointed person to overrule any decisions made by elected bodies, which does seem anti-democratic on its face.
They gathered 200,000 signatures, 40,000 more than the law requires to get a referendum on the ballot.
Supporters of the emergency manager law argued that the petitions were in the wrong font size and should be tossed out!
In a split decision, the Michigan Supreme Court decided that the petitions were valid, and the referendum will take place in November.
In the meanwhile, it said, the power of the emergency managers is suspended.
This leaves a big question mark hanging over two districts where the emergency managers decided to close the public schools and hand them over to charter operators.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Great news, Diane. Thanks for posting.
(I’m a teacher in Michigan.) It also leaves hanging what will happen to Detroit Public Schools, which are currently being run by an Emergency Financial Manager. The EFM fired all teachers (requiring them to reapply for their jobs), imposed a 10% pay cut on all teachers, removed class size maximums from the contract (allowing up to 60 students per class at the secondary level), and more. Since these measures were imposed under a law which has now been suspended and whose fate won’t be decided until well after the new school year begins, what will happen? Will the measures be abrogated as if they never existed? What happens to the salary of the EFM? Will he have to pay it all back? (I have my doubts there, but wouldn’t that be nice?) If the EFM isn’t allowed to work for three months and quite naturally finds other work and the public–heaven forbid–votes to keep the law, will the district hire a new manager or try to bring back the old one? This will be interesting to see played out, but it’s disgusting that this legal footwork is dancing on the backs of our children.
“Supporters of the emergency manager law argued that the petitions were in the wrong font size and should be tossed out!”
Font size? Wow! Thanks for the information, Diane.