Finances
On December 8, 2008, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan determined the district's inability to manage its finances and declared a financial emergency. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Robert Bobb as the emergency financial manager of Detroit Public Schools in 2009 to manage the school districts finances. His contract dictates a one year tenure. The school district began selling 27 previously closed school buildings. On March 3, 2009, Bobb initially estimated that DPS's current year deficit would be no less than $150M, requested early payments from the state to meet payroll, and indicated that more additional outside auditors will be required to properly assess the district's financial situation.
In March 2009, Robert Bobb declared that the school district had 150 million dollar budget deficit, only including debts that he was aware of. Twenty million dollars of that money is owed to the district's pension system. The DPS school board complained in that same year that the then deficit of $65 million for 2007-2008 school year was caused by accounting irregularities, including fringe benefits and paying teachers off of the books. Much of the deficit was discovered by outside auditors invited by former district Superintendent Connie Calloway in 2008.
The 2008-2009 edition of the Michigan Department of Education's ranking of Michigan Public School financial data showed the mean Detroit Public School teacher's salary stood at $71,031, more than 14% higher than the state average of $62,237. During the same period, the Michigan cohort graduation rate was 80.1%, while Detroit Public Schools' cohort graduation rate was 67.39%, 16% lower than the state average.
Read more about this topic: Detroit Public Schools