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 Report
Rips Detroit School Leadership on Deficit
Christine MacDonald, The Detroit News, June 10, 2005
For more articles like this
visit
http://www.bridges4kids.org.
A new report
blames Detroit Public Schools leaders for the district's
financial crisis -- calling it a "management breakdown" -- and
says they aren't cutting enough to meet the state-mandated plan
to erase its $200 million deficit.
The district's five-year cost-cutting measures are "extremely
optimistic" given overspending of millions of dollars with no
long-term planning over the past several years, according to the
report paid for by Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Detroit Public
Schools Transition Team.
The team's task is to help the district move from a
state-appointed board to an elected one after five years of a
state takeover. The report was done by Florida-based consulting
firm MGT of America, Inc.
"DPS will be paying the price for the current lack of budget
discipline ... well into the future," the report said. "DPS may
have some effective, innovative programs with no way to finance
them in the future."
School officials contested the findings, saying the report did
not factor in the affect of Michigan's poor economy.
"This is a very quick study and they even acknowledge that,"
said district spokesman Kenneth Coleman.
Officials have acknowledged spending money on programs, such as
reducing class size, that contributed to the deficit but said
they hoped to keep students.
Coleman also said the district is complying with the
deficit-reduction plan, pointing to 33 school closures and up to
2,800 layoffs this year.
The state allowed the district to borrow $213 million this year.
The report also found that:
• The district still has more central administrators than most.
• The district has unused offices in leased buildings and should
consider a relocation of the central office. School officials
maintain the leased offices save money.
• Retired teachers who are hired back and paid as consultants
also were paid a stipend for the benefits they would have
received if they're paid full time.
"The beauty of this ... is it is an independent thorough
diagnostic of the Detroit schools compared to other school
districts," said Philip Schloop, a team member and business
manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
CEO Kenneth Burnley will attend his last school board meeting
at 5 p.m. June 15, 2005 at Spain Elementary/Middle School, 3700
Beaubien, in Detroit. At that meeting he will announce whether
he will reconsider any of the 33 school closures announced
earlier this year. You can read the report at
http://www.detroitnaacp.org/pdf/dpsdiagnosticreport.pdf.
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