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February 16, 2007

Detroit union fights reality

Responding to the loss of tens of thousands of students over the last decade and the corresponding drop in state aid, Detroit is planning to close a number of schools to stop the financial hemorrhaging.  The Detroit Federation of Teachers response is both sad and predictable:

Detroit Federation of Teachers' president Virginia Cantrell criticized the district's massive school closing plan during a press conference Thursday, urging the district to devise a better plan to address declining enrollment.

The union says closing 52 schools would result in a greater loss of students, vast overcrowding and chaos in the remaining schools and immense cuts in programs.

"That is a large number of schools to be closed at anytime, but to close 52 schools at one time, it would simply be devastating to the community," said Cantrell, who was elected in December.

According to this, nearly a third of Detroit children attend charter schools or suburban districts through public school choice.  That article also mentions something that the story on the school closures didn't: the 25,000 students that vanished after that 16-day union strike at the beginning of the school year, which equates to a loss of another $190 million in state aid. 

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