Detroit's education rehab: Are charters a solution?

05-12-2011

By Sarah Hulett/NPR

In the past two years, Detroit has closed 59 schools and cut 30 percent of the school system's workforce. But the district is still staring at a deficit of more than $300 million, and thousands of students continue to flee every year. "If you do the math and you look at the numbers, the question is: Do we continue to close schools here in the city of Detroit to have more vacant and burned-out buildings? Or do we take a bold step forward to create DPS as a service provider of education?" ask Anthony Adams, president of the Detroit Board of Education. The "bold step" Adams wants to see would convert as many as 45 of the district's traditional schools to charters. Financially, this transition would help the district shed staffing expenses, including costly pension obligations. It would get management fees and lease revenues from charter operators. And it wouldn't have to shoulder the costs associated with shutting schools down, securing them and demolishing them. (more...)

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Detroit's education rehab: Are charters a solution?

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