Flint crisis may help governor ease GOP doubt on Detroit aid

Democrats, especially those running for president, have pointed to his administration's mishandling of the city's switch to a cheaper water supply as an example of Republican cost-cutting run amok.

[...] the Flint disaster erupted, the GOP-controlled Legislature was balking at also pumping much more money into fixing the schools, despite the governor's insistence that functioning Detroit schools are essential to giving Michigan a metropolitan economic hub again.

Snyder, a former corporate CEO who ran for office as a turnaround specialist, has been juggling the complicated politics of a state split between white, more affluent and conservative residents and poorer black residents in the industrial cities.

Recently, the finances of Detroit Public Schools, with a projected $515 million debt load, have become so dire that the system — which has been under state financial management for almost seven years — appears in danger of starting to run out of money in April.

In the newly changed political environment, however, lawmakers appear to open to diverting money from the state's settlement with tobacco companies, which is used for general spending and economic development.

Snyder and lawmakers are negotiating a way of providing state oversight to ensure that the school system stays solvent but is run by a locally elected school board.

The state Department of Environmental Quality has acknowledged instructing Flint, which was run by a state-appointed financial manager at the time, not to use corrosion chemicals based on a misreading of federal regulations.