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The Associated Press DETROIT NearlyallofDe- troit's public schools were closed Monday after the teachers union urged mem- bers to call out sick follow- ing a weekend announce- ment that the district wouldn't be able to pay its teachers starting this sum- mer. District spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said in an email Monday morn- ing that 94 of the district's 97 schools would be closed for the day. About 46,000 students are enrolled in the district's schools. The move by the Detroit Federation of Teachers was announced Sunday, a day after Detroit Public Schools' transition manager said the district would have no money to continue paying teachers this summer with- out further funding from the state. "There's a basic agree- ment in America: When you put in a day's work, you'll receive a day's pay," De- troit Federation of Teach- ers Interim President Ivy Bailey said in a statement. "DPS is breaking that deal. Teachers want to be in the classroom giving children a chance to learn and reach their potential. "Unfortunately, by refus- ing to guarantee that we will be paid for our work, DPS is effectively locking our members out of the classrooms." In March, Gov. Rick Sny- der signed into law emer- gency funding that is keep- ing the district operat- ing through the end of the school year as the state Leg- islature considers a $720 million restructuring plan that would pay off the dis- trict's enormous debt. Former bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who was appointed this year to oversee the district, also said Saturday that DPS would be unable to fund summer school or special education programs after June 30. On Sunday night, he said in a statement that the union's "choice for a drastic call to action was not neces- sary" and said that a sickout is "counterproductive and detrimental" to the efforts of those trying to help the school district. "I understand the frus- tration and anger that our teachers feel," Rhodes said. "I am, however, confident that the Legislature will support the request that will guarantee that teach- ers will receive the pay that is owed to them." Teacher strikes are il- legal under Michigan law. Sick-outs earlier this year caused tens of thousands of students to miss class. EDUCATION Sick-out by teachers shuts nearly all Detroit public schools By Alanna Durkin Richer The Associated Press RICHMOND, VA. Republi- can lawmakers in Virginia will file a lawsuit challeng- ing Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's decision to al- low more than 200,000 con- victed felons to vote in No- vember, GOP leaders said Monday. Republicans argue the governor has overstepped his constitutional authority with a clear political ploy de- signed to help the campaign of his friend and Democratic presidential candidate Hill- ary Clinton in the important swing state this fall. "Gov. McAuliffe's flagrant disregard for the Consti- tution of Virginia and the rule of law must not go un- checked," Senate Republi- can Leader Thomas Nor- ment said in a statement. He added that McAuliffe's predecessors and previous attorneys general examined thisissueandconcludedVir- ginia's governor can't issue blanket restorations. Republicans have hired Charles J. Cooper, a Wash- ington,D.C.,attorneyknown for defending California's ban on gay marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. GOP leaders did not say when they will file the lawsuit. They said it would not be paid for using tax- payer dollars. The pend- ing legal fight highlights the important role Virginia will likely play in this year's presidential contest. Clin- ton could benefit from a surge of new minority vot- ers, who typically vote Dem- ocratic. Although even if all the 200,000 ex-felons signed up,theywouldrepresentless than 1 percent of total regis- tered voters in the state. McAuliffe has said the move was not politically mo- tivated. A lawyer for former Dem- ocratic Gov. Tim Kaine said in 2010 that the restoration of rights must be done on a case-by-case basis. A blan- ket order restoring voting rights would be a "rewrite of the law," Mark Rubin, a counselor to Kaine, said in a letter at the time. A spokesman for McAu- liffe said Republicans have yet to express any specific constitutional objections to the executive order. "The governor is disap- pointed that Republicans would go to such lengths to continue locking people who have served their time out of their democracy," Brian Coy said in a state- ment. "These Virginians are qualifiedtovoteandtheyde- serve a voice, not more par- tisan schemes to disenfran- chise them." Virginia, Iowa, Kentucky and Florida are the only states that strip all felons of their voting rights for life unless a state official restores them, according to the Washington D.C.-based Sentencing Project. Such policies make black Ameri- cans of voting age four times more likely to lose their vot- ingrightsthantherestofthe adult population, the group says. McAuliffe says people who have served their time should be given a second chance to exercise their civic duties. He has also said he's certainhehassuchauthority after consulting with legal and constitutional experts, including Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who is also a Democrat. GOVERNOR'S EXECUTIVE ORDER GO P la wm ak er s to s ue over felons' voting rights The Associated Press SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced that Puerto Rico's government will not make nearly $370 million in bond payments due Monday after a failure to restructure or find a po- litical solution to the U.S. territory's spiraling public debt crisis. Garcia said Sunday that he had issued an ex- ecutive order suspending payments on debt owed by the island's Govern- ment Development Bank, a default that will likely prompt lawsuits from creditors and could be a prelude to a deadline to a much larger payment due July 1. The governor said Puerto Rico can't pay the bonds without cutting es- sential services. Island officials spent the weekend trying to ne- gotiate a settlement that would have avoided the de- fault but apparently came up short. The development comes as Congress has so far been unable to pass a debt restructuring bill for Puerto Rico. "Let me be very clear, this was a painful deci- sion," Garcia said in a speech. "We would have preferred to have had a le- gal framework to restruc- ture our debts in an or- derly manner." Experts say Monday's default itself is unlikely to have a major effect on the broader bond market. Most bond funds have al- ready sold their Puerto Rican debt, though a few still hold parts of the com- monwealth's debts and could be hurt. Puerto Rico's Govern- ment Development Bank had $422 million in pay- ments due Monday. Puerto Rico will pay $22 million interest and it reached a deal Friday to restructure about $30 million, leaving it short $370 million. The administration also will be paying about $50 million in other debt pay- ments due Monday owed by various other territorial agencies. Nearly all the bonds are held by a variety of U.S. hedge funds and mutual funds. Garcia said Puerto Ri- co's government could not make the payment without sacrificing basic neces- sities for the island's 3.5 million residents, includ- ing keeping schools and public hospitals open. "We will continue work- ing to try to reach a con- sensual solution with our creditors," he said. "That is one of our commitments. But what we will never do is put the lives and safety of our people in danger." The governor had been warning since last year that the island's overall public debt of more than $70 billion is unpayable. Puerto Rico has been suffering through more than a decade of economic decline since Congress phased out tax cuts that had made the island a cen- ter for pharmaceutical and medical equipment manu- facturing. Garcia's prede- cessors and the island leg- islature borrowed heavily to cover over budget defi- cits, causing a debt spiral that has already prompted several smaller defaults. Creditors have accused the government of exag- gerating the crisis to avoid upcoming payments of more than $1 billion due July 1 that includes gen- eral obligation bonds, which are guaranteed by the constitution. Economists have warned that a default of this magnitude could cause Puerto Rico to lose access to capital markets and make the situation worse as the government faces the much larger payment due July 1. Garcia lashed out at Congress for failing to pass a bill that would create a control board to help manage the is- land's $70 billion debt and to oversee some debt restructuring. He said it has been held up by "in- ternal partisan and ide- ological divisions" in the House of Representatives. Puerto Rico won't make $370 mi ll io n in d eb t pa ym en ts M on da y PUBLIC DEBT CRISIS RICARDOARDUENGO—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE The Puerto Rican flag flies in front of Puerto Rico's Capitol as in San Juan, Puerto Rico. SAIT SERKAN GURBUZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Puerto Rico Gov. 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