A small unopened box arrived from Amazon one school morning. Spain Elementary School counselors, Lakia Wilson and Samantha Hoskin, wondered what it was before indifferently cutting a line across the opening.

“Oh hey, it’s the charging port I ordered,” Hoskin announced before pulling it out of the box. A black port the size of half a textbook sat on the table with its stiffly twined cable and USB openings lining the side. They turned it over, agreed with it, and set it aside. “We have one outlet in this office,” Wilson says.

Detroit Public Schools are on ground-zero. Recent money fraud accusations, cuts to teachers’ pay, lack of basic school supplies, have left those who remain with an unclear future. Spain Elementary School is just one of the schools that employed one of the officials who was involved with the kickback scandal and pending lawsuits.

It helps to understand when the decline of academic performance essentially began. According to Dedicated Teachers for Fairness and Equality, Detroit Public Schools had $100M in financial surplus in 1999.

However, after viewing the district’s unsuitable test scores, the State enforced a takeover and eliminated power from the school board. By 2002 Detroit Public Schools were suddenly in a $48M deficit. The man appointed as emergency manager was Kenneth Burnley and concluded his appointment with $200M in debt by 2004.

I compared test scores recorded for Detroit before emergency management with 2015 numbers. One example is East Detroit Public School. According to the Michigan Department of Education, the fourth graders had a math score of 87.1 and a reading score of 68.8 in the 2000 school year, one year after the State takeover.

By 2015 the National Center for Education Statistics reported Detroit fourth graders tested on average 36 for math and 27 for reading. That’s a decrease of more than half for math and reading comprehension 16 years since State emergency management has been responsible for Detroit Public Schools.

By 2006, $210M was spent on construction while 27 schools were shut down and Detroit had witnessed its most dramatic decrease in student population ever recorded by the DFTE. A student body loss of over 22,700 from 2005 in just one year.

Now in 2016, from one emergency manager to another, DTFE reported a $3.5 billion dollar deficit for Detroit Public Schools. The per pupil funding of $7,296 dollars has 40% of it going towards paying the debt off rather than classroom instruction and district operations. The current scandal of money kickbacks with district officials and a school supplier adds up to be only $1M. Lakia Wilson worked with one of the principles allegedly involved in the kickback scandal and believes the attention to be a distraction.

“The timing of the charges against the administrators was intentional,” Wilson points out. “[it’s] to basically make a poor connection that the district is in deficit because the administrators were stealing money.”

“That is far from the truth. Those little drops [of money] in the bucket...does not compare to the billions that have been stolen from DPS from appointees of the governors.”

The building of Spain Elementary School dates to be over 100 years old. Wilson reached out to the public stating that her school was under deplorable conditions; the gym floor was uneven and in disrepair, mold is still on the walls, and rodents scurry alongside students. The Ellen Show donated $500,000 in renovation efforts to Spain Elementary, which are still underway, yet Wilson’s latest tour of the school still had many students complaining of multiple issues.

During my visit, the hallways were flush with students who were dismissed early due to overheated classrooms. Teachers brought in popsicles with their own funds in an effort to cool down their students. “Our students have a hard time learning in the heat, they can’t focus, and some of them pass out or get nose bleeds all the time,” Wilson stated. As for the winter months, students are bundled up in their jackets and hats to stay warm.

“They’re all drinking water to stay hydrated?” I asked. “Our water has been detected with lead and copper so we give them packaged water.” Wilson presented an 8 oz cup of packaged water which students receive only three times a day, the short supply is due to budgetary tolls. Although the public is aware of the contamination and the school is receiving water, Wilson assures me to not be misled. The students’ limited supply and overwhelming conditions make education a struggle.

“We shouldn’t have to go to Amazon to buy things for the school,” Wilson picks up the package. In many offices and classrooms, teachers pay out of their own pockets for most of the supplies used for schooling including printing paper and books. Despite faculty and staff resigning on a daily basis, Detroit Public Schools fight to remain open for the welfare of their students.

A newer part of the school was built 15 years ago which includes an auditorium and performing-art based classrooms. Today, many of these rooms are unused without teachers to instruct these subjects.

In February 2016, the State Senate presented the Putting Students First Plan, a controversial effort to bring Detroit schools out of debt. One of the factors in place was to eliminate the need for teachers to be certified for DPS, allowing Detroit to hire employees without requiring a certification. Wilson believes the proposal was racially motivated.

“It’s about DPS, and that’s it. It has no effect on Grosse Pointe, Birmingham school district, or Southfield [school district]. If a hairdresser has to be licensed by the state of Michigan, then definitely our teachers have to be certified. If we put more credence in hair and nails than we do our children, then America is jacked up.”

Despite the conditions Wilson and Hoskin continue to proudly serve their schools for more than 20 years. “The district gets teachers by the droves wanting to leave, to go anywhere but here,” Wilson says. Samantha agrees. “They [faculty] say, ‘why would we stay here when I can work anywhere else, like McDonald’s and make the same amount of money with so much less stress?’”

“We’re educators,” Wilson says. “We teach with our hearts.” When asked if any good came out of the situation, Wilson agrees that her co-workers are strong and not giving up on the school. “Our teachers are resilient,” she says. “I know the void that would happen if I left this school, and it hurts. I know all of these children, being here for so long, and I even taught their parents.”

Just before taking its summer recess, the Michigan legislature passed a $54.9 billion budget, which includes funding to keep Detroit Public Schools open. The budget passed in a vote that was largely divided along party lines.

On WDIV Detroit, Republican Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof called the package a “thoughtful compromise.” Meekhof went on to say, “This package of bills resolves a half billion dollars in debt, provides resources necessary for DPS to transition to a new, debt-free district and returns the school district to a locally elected board at the earliest possible election date.”

Democrats had strong concerns about this bill. “This plan is a farce,” said Sen. David Knezek (D) of Dearborn Heights. Sen. Bert Johnson (D) of Highland Park said the legislation is “paternalistic” and “unethical.”

With the majority of the money set aside for DPS to pay off debt accrued under four emergency managers and seven years of State control, it is unclear if the nearly 46,000 students in Detroit’s schools will get the resources and support they need.

For the staff and children at Spain Elementary, that may mean problems like lead in the water, mold in the walls, and poor heating/cooling will remain unresolved. And, staff may still have to resort to emptying their own pockets and ordering from Amazon to meet basic needs.