There appears to be rising opposition to the planned sale of the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint. Meanwhile, a legislative mistake threatens to delay the sale.
A private developer wants to buy the 85 acre campus for one point three million dollars. He’ll then build a new school and lease it back to the state for two million dollars a year.
Freida Morrison is the president of the School for the Deaf Alumni Association. Speaking through an interpreter, Morrison says she doesn’t understand why the state is selling so much and paying so much.
"Of course the school needs a lot of improvements....But (we) still question of the sale…why (the state) has to sell the entire campus?"
State Senator John Gleason says he understands the alumni’s concerns, but he says the sale will benefit the students.
In the meantime, there is a problem. The bill authorizing the sale passed the legislature last week, but a wording mistake in the senate version of the bill means the governor can’t sign it. Gleason hopes to get enough senators back to Lansing next week to pass a corrected bill and send it to the governor.
