Bill Johnson, chief operating officer for the Wayne County Commission and an award-winning former Detroit News editorial writer (1987-2002), is among those distressed about Detroit Public Schools enrollment.
"It’s just a matter of time before there won’t be enough left for DPS to justify its existence," he says in a blog post after a revised deficit elimination plan forecasts about 13,000 fewer students and 28 fewer schools by 2016.
Barriers to choice and dissatisfaction with district performance are part of the problem, Johnson adds:
Today, less than half of the estimated 100,000 school-age children who live in the city attend DPS. . . . Increasingly, parents are finding the “good schools” they need in the suburbs, or with schools of choice and charter schools. . . .
The district must immediately restore some dignity and purpose to its mission. [Emergency Financial Manager Roy] Roberts has an obligation to focus on accomplishing the basics of education with the best use of the public’s money. That mandate comes with an imperative to give parents and students real access to good schools. . . .
Parents, though, seem disinterested in the education delivery system Roberts has tried to bring to the table.
Johnson, a longtime Detroit education observer and commentator, defines the challenge:
Roberts . . . won’t find the answer until he uses what power he has left to break from the discredited central management style that stifles meaningful academic change.
This we know: Parents are demanding a greater role in choosing the right school for their children. Sooner, rather than later, Roberts must deal with the imperative of removing the barriers to choice and replace bureaucratic malaise with educational opportunity.
