MI: Detroit Public Schools Continuing To Play Silly Games

12/08/08

08:38:25 am, Categories: State News, Education
http://blogpublic.lib.msu.edu/index.php/2008/12/08/detroit-public-schools-continuing-to-pla?blog=5

If Detroit Public Schools can't even get the paperwork right for its financial recovery plan, how can it be trusted to properly execute the plan?

The district purported to send documents to the state last week detailing how it will meet its obligations under a state consent agreement and avoid the appointment by the state of an emergency financial manager.

The district's leaders approved and distributed to the public the plan, which was supposed to end the political infighting and stabilize its fiscal affairs.

But when the paperwork arrived in the offices of the state superintendent of schools, someone -- and no one can say who right now -- crossed out the words "deficit elimination plan" and replaced them with the words "revised budget reduction strategy update."

Here's the problem with the word switch: The state had specifically required that the document be referenced as a "deficit elimination plan." The state ordered the board to pass a resolution giving Superintendent Connie Calloway the power to fully implement the deficit elimination plan without further approval and intervention of the board.

Calling it an update makes less clear the district's commitment to meeting its targets and does not convey the recognition that Calloway is in charge of implementing the steps.

State school officials are livid and are said to be considering what action to take. We would suggest tossing the entire document in the trash and moving immediately to appoint a financial manager. The district has proven its incompetence runs so deep its officials can't even follow simple instructions from the state.

Detroit Public Schools is continuing to play silly games even as its own survival and its children's academic well-being are at stake. The district is expected to run out of money by January.

The district distributed the misleading board resolution -- without the crossed-out reference -- publicly and promoted it as proof that a new era in the Detroit school district had begun.

It's worth noting that the state House last week voted to continue Detroit's special funding status as Michigan's largest school district and protected Detroit Public Schools from additional competition from charter schools.

It was one of the most irresponsible votes ever taken by the House and provides evidence that relief for Detroit's misused school children won't come from that Democratic-controlled house of the Legislature. In fact, David Hecker, head of the American Federation of Teachers Michigan that includes among its members the Detroit Federation of Teachers, told the Legislature Thursday that in Detroit, "It's a new day," as the union lobbied to protect its hold on the city's education dollars.

Apparently not. And it won't be until the state accepts its responsibility to fix these schools.

There's no point in sending the paperwork back to Detroit and demanding that it be rewritten. The intent of the Detroit school board is obvious: It will use every dodge it can to avoid reform.

The next move should be to appoint a state financial manager to clean up this mess.

For the full editorial, see "Detroit school bungling demands state response", Detroit News, December 8, 2008.