Something to be mindful of

Strained schools may get manager

Team recommends gov act to aid Highland Park district

Free Press staff

   A state review team is recommending that Gov. Rick Snyder appoint an emergency manager for the Highland Park School District to resolve its fiscal crisis.

   State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said the district “is in a financial free fall, and we must do everything we can to protect the students and educators from feeling the brunt of the impact.”

   The team is recommending an emergency manager because the district’s deficit, which was $11.3 million on June 30, increased 51% from the previous year. The team also cited declining enrollment, the fact that the district has been in a deficit for five of the last six fiscal years and that it owed more than $1.7 million in accounts payable.

   Detroit Public Schools is the only district in the state with an emergency manager. About a dozen more districts are on an unofficial state watch list because of financial stress.

   Emergency managers have the power to void union contracts, cut services and sell district assets.

   State Treasurer Andy Dillon said the team had no choice but to recommend action.

   “The No. 1 priority is making sure that kids have access to a good education,” Dillon said. “From a longer-term view, once they’re stable and they’re on a path to recovery, then that’s when we look to exit.”

   Highland Park Superintendent Edith Hightower said she is prepared to do what it takes to protect children.

   “The governor’s team made their recommendation, and I have to accept that,” said Hightower, who oversees a district with 969 students and a $20-million budget. “Anything that we can do to make sure that our kids get an education, we need to do.”

   School board Chairwoman Alma Greer said the district meets the state criteria for the appointment of an emergency manager.

   “We are in financial distress. We have to admit to that,” she said. “We’ve done many of the things that we could. We privatized transportation. We privatized maintenance. We privatized security. DPS is providing food, at no expense, to us (as part of the federal free-lunch program).”

   But board member Robert Davis said he may pursue legal action against the state.

   “There’s no doubt in my mind that being a duly elected member of the board … my rights are being violated, as well as the rights of students and their parents,” Davis said.

   Davis said the board and Hightower have worked the last few months to implement the state’s recommendations to eliminate the deficit.

   “I believe with the direction in which the board and administration are now headed in, this deficit could be cured and eliminated,” Davis said. “We can do the same thing that an appointed emergency manager would be required to do.”