Detroit Public Schools has the worst graduation rate of the 50 largest districts in the nation, according to a report published in Education Week.
Only 26.8% of Detroit students graduated in 2006, which is down from 37.5% in 2005. The state of Michigan has a rate of 69.6%, which is close to the national average of 69.2%.
Detroit schools are currently under emergency financial manager Robert Bobb, who was appointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm to shore up a $306 million deficit.
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Bobb has closed 29 schools and ordered 40 others to be restructured, possibly as charter schools. Bobb has also laid off much of the DPS administration. For example, dozens of principals were cut last month. Also gone are half the district's assistant superintendents.
In addition, 80 percent of the employees in the Detroit Public Schools curriculum department will be laid off by the end of June, while 11 cabinet-level executives will not be invited back when their contracts run out, according to The Detroit News.
Union leaders think that cutting administration is the right thing to do.
“Detroit Public Schools spends an average of 21 cents on every dollar on upper level administrative costs," according to Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers "The tri-county average in suburban Detroit districts is nine cents on a dollar.”
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So 26.8% graduate from high school, and if they all went to college only 53% would graduate. which means about 12% or probably much less. Pathetic.
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