|
Coalition
calls
for
ending
state
control
of
Detroit
schools
By JEFF
KAROUB
Associated
Press
DETROIT
- A
group of
academic,
business,
government
and
community
leaders
on
Monday
called
on the
state of
Michigan
to
return
control
of the
struggling
Detroit
Public
Schools
to its
locally
elected
governing
board,
assume
the
district's
spiraling
debt and
increase
accountability
of
charter
schools.
The
Coalition
for the
Future
of
Detroit
Schoolchildren
announced
its
recommendations
at an
afternoon
news
conference
in
Detroit
after a
100-day
review.
The
diverse
group of
roughly
three
dozen
committee
members
that
includes
teachers
and
administrators,
clergy
and
community
activists,
and
automotive
and
labor
executives
was
formed
in
December.
Its
focus
was on
the
state-run
Detroit
Public
Schools,
city
charter
schools
and the
Education
Achievement
Authority,
which
was
created
to
oversee
and turn
around
the
state's
lowest-performing
schools.
Between
them,
those
three
constitute
the
city's
public
schools.
The
coalition's
report
says the
Detroit
district's
"deficits
and debt
have
ballooned"
in the
past 15
years,
10 of
which
have
been
under
some
form of
state
control.
The
state is
liable
for that
debt,
"much of
it
accumulated
while
the
state
was in
charge,"
according
to the
report.
They
were
referring
to $450
million
raised
from
bond
issues
floated
by the
state,
which
translates
to $53
million
annually
in debt
service,
or
$1,120
per
student
a year.
The
coalition
also
recommends
that the
state
exempt
Detroit
from
paying
the
legacy
cost of
retired
district
employees
to
Michigan's
school
retirement
system
since
"the
state
failed
to
sufficiently
save to
support
the
secure
retirement
of these
teachers
and
staff
and
today's
student
population
is too
small to
carry
the
expense."
John
Rakolta
Jr., a
coalition
co-chair
and CEO
of
construction
firm
Walbridge
Aldinger
Co.,
said
coalition
members
spent
"thousands
and
thousands
of
hours"
poring
over
research,
holding
public
forums
and long
meetings.
There
were
major
disagreements
but they
ultimately
resolved
that a
broad
plan was
needed
to save
Detroit's
schools
and its
students,
he said.
"I
wasn't
prepared
for what
I
found,"
he said.
"The
system
is
broken
and has
been
coming
apart
for a
generation."
The
state's
intervention
to date,
the
coalition
concluded,
hasn't
improved
the
district's
financial
or
academic
fortunes.
It cited
a 2013
national
study
that
found
Detroit
was the
nation's
worst
performing
urban
district
in terms
of
academic
proficiency.
"Detroit
is
facing
many
challenges
including
growing
poverty,
a
declining
population
and an
inability
to
reduce
fixed
costs as
enrollment
declines,"
the
report
says.
"State
policies
created
an
unfair
playing
field
for DPS,
such as
the cost
of
paying
for an
expensive
retirement
system
it did
not
design.
... The
longer
we let
it
fester,
the more
expensive
the debt
will
become."
The
group
recommends
creating
a
nonpartisan
entity
that
oversees
the
district,
including
opening,
closing
and
locating
all
schools,
but
allows
for
school
decision-making
such as
hiring
and
curriculum.
Charter
schools
also
would
have to
meet the
commission's
performance
standards
established
by what
would be
called
the
Detroit
Education
Commission.
The
commission
also
wants to
fully
fund an
office
to take
over the
operations
of the
Educational
Achievement
Authority,
assess
the
schools
it
controls
and
create a
plan to
move
those
schools
back
into the
traditional
district.
Each of
the
Education
Achievement
Authority's
15
schools
is in
Detroit.
The EAA
has
about
7,500
students.
The
Detroit
Public
Schools
have
been
under
state
oversight
since
2009.
State-appointed
emergency
manager
Darnell
Earley
said in
January
that the
district
has a
$170
million
annual
deficit.
Sliding
enrollment
has
contributed
to the
money
troubles.
About
47,000
full-time
students
were
enrolled
last
fall,
and
roughly
49,000
enrolled
the
previous
year.
About
104,000
students
were in
the
district
in 2007.
Gov.
Rick
Snyder
said in
a
statement
that he
"respects"
the
coalition's
work and
his
administration
will
review
the
recommendations.
He
previously
had
cited
progress
made by
the
school
district,
including
in
stabilizing
enrollment
and
improving
academic
performance,
but
acknowledged
"many
challenges,"
including
its
finances.
Snyder's
statement
did not
directly
respond
to the
recommendation
that the
state
assume
responsibility
for some
of the
debt
service
payments.
The
state
did
contribute
along
with
businesses
and
foundations
last
year to
a fund
of more
than
$800
million
to help
Detroit
soften
cuts to
retiree
pensions.
Earley
said in
a
statement
that he
and many
district
administrators,
faculty
and
staff
members
have
worked
with the
coalition,
and he's
pleased
to see
the
recommendations
support
his
strategy
to
"right
our own
ship." |