1. BLACK SCHOOL CHILDREN EXCEL

2. “What is happening right now in the poorest communities of America – which are largely black communities - is the worst situation black America has faced since slavery … we need look no further than our schools...” -Congressman John Lewis In his memoirs, Walking with the Wind

3. Why are “majority black*” schools in crisis?
Segregation (class)
Equity – inadequate resources
Low expectations

4. Governance
Elected board: In the 1940s, DPS was removed from city control. In 1999, then-Gov. John Engler and legislature pass reform law, removing the elected board. This action is, arguably, spurred by the elected board’s failure to spend the $1.5 billion construction bond that voters approved in DPS has no deficit on the books at this time. In 1974 Milliken vs. Bradley goes to SCOTUS and court overturned desegregation of 53 Detroit area school districts, ruling segregation allowed if it did not result from anything the district purposely did to segregate students.
State control: DPS controlled by appointed reform board and CEO.
Mayoral control: In 2004, voters reject mayoral control. In 2010, city council refuses to put the issue on the ballot.
Calloway Effect: an elected school board runs DPS; hires Connie Calloway as superintendent.
Emergency managers (state control): 2009 to present.
Education Achievement Authority created: 2011-present (sunset date July 1, 2017)
DPS Community District: Created June 2016 to replace DPS. School board elected in November. FRC runs the budget for at least the next three years.

5. MONEY
Detroiters always approve millages and bond measures for schools. However, Proposal A removed the option to ask voters for money to off-set budget shortfalls. $chool choice - the advent of charter schools, competition from inner-ring suburbs opening their borders empties DPS classrooms. DPS has lost two-thirds enrollment, more than 100,000 students and closed 165 schools since : Detroiters approve $1.5 billion construction bond – largest in Michigan history at that time 2005: $200 million shortfall is averted when CEO sells bonds (debt). 2007: Detroiters approve ballot measure to ask the state to pay off $213 million debt that accumulate during state takeover. 2008: Supt. Connie Calloway loses track of budget. Deficit is projected over $300 million : Gov. Jennifer Granholm appoints first emergency manager for DPS. EM Robert Bobb sells bonds, deficit grows by $100 million. Detroiters approve a $500 million construction bond. 2012: At least $500 million was spent on schools that are no longer used by DPS students (leased to EAA, demolished or sold). DPS becomes second largest charter district in US. Majority of Detroit kids in charters. 2015: Gov. Rick Snyder says state needs to pay $515 million to pay off DPS debt that accumulated under state takeover; plus $200 million to stabilize district 2016: Debt at $515 million, district needed $715 million to be stabilized. Legislature gave $617 million. More than $1,100 per pupil was spent on long-term debt; DPS is 1/3 the size it was at the time of the 1999 state takeover. BOTTOMLINE: school reform destabilized DPS

6. “The financial pressures have reached the point of desperation
“The financial pressures have reached the point of desperation.” - The New York Times (1991)

7. Of DPS Students are from low-income families
POVERTY in DPSCD
85%
Of DPS Students are from low-income families

8. ON FIRST TRY, DETROIT SCORES LAST ON NATION’S REPORT CARD

9. INCONSISTENCY DPS governance structure has changed 4 times since 1999
REFORM BOARD (1999): Reform law replaces DPS school board with appointed board, CEO
ELECTED BOARD (2006): DPS board elections because Detroiters voted against mayoral control in 2004, saying they want elected board back. This new school board took office in January (2005 also the first wave of mass school closures -30; CEO Kenneth Burnley sells $200 million in bonds to avert a deficit;
EMERGENCY <FIN ANCIAL> MANAGERS ( ): Gov. Jennifer Granholm appoints Robert Bobb emergency financial manager amid $300 million deficit projections. Thus, elected board was in control Jan March 2009.
DPS COMMUNITY DISTRICT: partially-empowered school board took office in January
Of note: In 2011, the school board wins lawsuit against EFM Robert Bobb; three months later legislature passes Public Act 4 to revise the state’s emergency financial manager law and create “emergency managers,” affecting troubled schools and cities statewide. In 2012, voters reject emergency manager law by ballot referendum; one month later legislature passes an even stronger emergency manager law (Public Act 436) which took effect in 2013.

10. DPS LEADERSHIP 1999-present
David Adamany ( )
Kenneth Burnley ( )
William F. Coleman III ( )
Lamont Satchel (2007)
Connie Calloway ( )
Teresa Gueyser ( )
Robert Bobb ( )*
Roy Roberts ( )
Jack Martin ( )
Darnell Earley ( )
Steven Rhodes (2016)
Alycia Meriweather, FRC (2017)
Nikolia Vitti (2017-present)
*DPS had five emergency managers since City of Detroit had one who, with state support revolutionize the city’s budget and left town in 18 months.

11. “Good schools can go a long way toward helping poor children achieve better, but the fact remains that educational inequity is rooted in economic problems and social pathologies too deep to be overcome by school alone. … Our biggest hope is to break the cycle of disadvantage that lies outside the influence of the school day.” -Susan B. Neuman, Changing the Odds for Children at Risk: Seven Essential Principles of Educational Programs that Break the Cycle of Poverty

12. It Doesn’t Matter Who’s in Charge
The ongoing search for the best leadership model for Detroit’s schools is an important conversation.
And an ineffective one.
No specific form of governance is tied to improved student achievement. (Institute on Educational Law and Policy at Rutgers University).

13. DETROIT STILL RANKS LAST IN READING ON NATION’S REPORT CARD

14. WHAT WORKS? High standards (Massachusetts)
Early childhood focus (Michigan, 2013-present)
Coordinated services that include the family (Minnesota)
Well-trained staff (Tennessee)
Accountability (Massachusetts)
Equitable and adequate funding (Massachusetts)

15. HOW DO WE FIX IT?

16. Accept, Be Fearless and Commit

17. YOUR kids’ schools are mediocre or BAD.
ACCEPT IT!
It’s not just Detroit.
YOUR kids’ schools are mediocre or BAD.
Yes you: Bloomfields, Birminghams, Pointes, Troys, Rochesters.

18. Michigan’s not poor white kids rank last in the nation on the Nation’s Report Card
Michigan’s students now score in the bottom tier of states nationally on the NAEP, one of only three states making incremental gains while other states have improved dramatically.
In 2015, the average Michigan eighth-grader scored lower on the national math test than the average poor eighth-grader in Massachusetts.

19. Improving Michigan’s outcomes will improve Detroit’s outcomes
ACCEPT IT!
Improving Michigan’s outcomes
will improve Detroit’s outcomes

20. FEARLESS REFORM
Consider this: If Massachusetts were a country, it’s 8th graders would have placed second in the world on the 2011 TIMSS science test, and fifth in math among 63 countries. Bay State reformers have begun boasting that they are not only building the smartest kids in America, but in the world.

21. FEARLESS REFORM – How’d Massachusetts do it?
Massachusetts passed the Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA), which
ramped up the requirements for what students were expected to learn under the Massachusetts Common Core of Learning curriculum standards
called for more education funding and legalized high quality charter schools.
tough, statewide standards were created in English language arts, foreign languages, health, mathematics, history/social science, and science, technology and engineering
For more than a decade, scores were subpar on the new, harder state tests

22. COMMIT
In a heavily Democratic state, one Republican governor after the next, including Michigan-born Mitt Romney, Massachusetts followed the business group’s lead. And stuck to the reform plan.
As a result of the collaboration, Massachusetts has become the gold standard for public education.
Can Michigan’s fractious Legislature hash out a plan and stick to it?

23. “Smartest Kids in the Nation” To rebuild Detroit, restore the schools
BRIDGE MAGAZINE
“Smartest Kids in the Nation”
“Why Detroit’s new school leadership won’t much matter”
“How Snyder’s plan to fix Detroit school debt impacts other districts”
To rebuild Detroit, restore the schools