Dive Brief:
- In an effort to get a handle on $467 million in operating debt in the Detroit public schools, Michigan has taken the unique step of splitting the public school system in two, according to a report from Education Week.
- The plan, barely approved by the state legislature, transfers all of the school system’s buildings and funding to a new district, leaving the old one in place to continue collecting property taxes and pay down its debt.
- Education Week reports the city schools will avoid bankruptcy under the plan, which will also free up about $50 million during the 2016-17 school year for classroom use and provide the new district with $150 million in startup costs, though that is half the amount requested and critics oppose strong anti-strike provisions in the legislation.
Dive Insight:
The current public school board has filed a lawsuit to stop the split of the district, arguing that the state legislature needed a two-thirds majority to impose a local change on Detroit under the state constitution. The Detroit Free Press reports none of the Detroit representatives in the state legislature voted for the change and it passed with a “razor-thin” margin.
For years Detroit has been an image of what every public school district does not want to be. It has had plummeting enrollment and financial troubles that have contributed to a lack of faith in the system. Michigan charter school law has been accused of cannibalizing the public school system in Detroit, pitting charter schools against traditional schools in a fight for a too-few students. There are not many who expect the latest solution strategy to offer a real fix to the many layers of problems plaguing the urban district.