By Associated Press - Wednesday, May 18, 2016

DETROIT (AP) - The transition manager for Detroit’s public schools has met with the local school board which has been opposed to state intervention in the district.

Former bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes says he expects Wednesday’s meeting will be the start of “a productive dialogue.”

The elected board was stripped of its responsibilities in 2009 after the state appointed the first of five emergency managers to fix the district’s finances.

Rhodes said he believes their common goals include “a return to local control.”

The state is looking at plans to pay off the district’s estimated $467 million debt. One plan also would provide $200 million in transition funds for a new, separate district that would educate students and have its finances overseen by a commission of state appointees.

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