Expect The Unexpected
So the Detroit Public Schools are losing students and somehow this is a shock to The Detroit News (emphasis mine):
Detroit Public Schools posted its lowest enrollment since World War I,
constituting a massive and unexpected decline, according to early
figures circulated by the district administration following Wednesday’s
statewide pupil count.
Unexpected? Really? Michigan has the worst economy in the US with 8.5% unemployment (thanks Jenny). People are leaving to find jobs in other states. And guess what, they’re taking their children with them. The mayor of Detroit just resigned after a very public and embarrassing legal battle. Half of the city council is under investigation. The DPS board has been in trouble for years resulting a graduation rate of about 50%. Who wants to keep their kids in that environment? Those remaining in the state are moving to the suburbs.
The only way the drop could be unexpected is if there were no more people in Detroit and the enrollment still dropped.
Also, a $1.1 billion budget for 98,356 students?!? That’s over $110,000 per student. Couldn’t they just hire a private tutor for each student at that cost? Oops, off by a zero (thanks Matt). That should be $11,000 per student. Guess I need to go back to math class. Still, all it takes is a class of 10 students to put it back to $110,000. Class sizes are much bigger than 10 students. Where’s all the money going? Too much overhead, too many administrators, too much waste.
How anyone considered a lower enrollment to be “unexpected” is inconceivable. I think it may be a matter of poor wording and editing. It was, perhaps, meant to reflect that the lower enrollment constituted “an unexpectedly massive decline.”
(pssst…check your math. $11,000. Still, get a group of 5 students together (like my kids), and you can probably get an in-home private tutor for 4 hours a day at $55,000/year. That’s nearly $70/hour for a 40-week year, $55/hour for a 50 week year.)