(The Center Square) – Detroit’s school board approved a $1.1 billion budget for this school year that cut about $37 million in recurring costs and 300 positions to balance the budget.
The board voted 6-1 to approve the budget, which includes eliminating over 300 positions to ratchet down spending but shifting many of those employees to another position.
The cuts affect office administrators and school-based employees including assistant principals, college transition advisers, school culture facilitators, and para-educators. However, those positions could be funded at the school level.
Detroit Public Schools Community District General Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said about 30% of DPSCD’s overall restricted revenue is restricted funds, which can’t be spent on teachers and school operations.
“So as we moved into next year’s budget, what we tried to do is create space in the general fund in order to address inflation, which was mainly affecting operations and to be able to increase all salaries and wages next year and maintain and afford health care costs, ” Vitti said.
The district is grappling with a $20 million drop in revenue from 2,000 students leaving the district since pre-pandemic, as well as a $13 million increase in utility costs pre-pandemic based on on anticipated rate changes and increased usage and an expected 7% increase, or $6 million increase in health care costs.
Meanwhile, operation costs for contract vendors increase by $18 million, with $30 million in future negotiated salary increases.
The district is trying to provide learning recovery services from pandemic learning loss. The budget assumes the school’s per-pupil allocation will increase by $458 per student, or a total of $22 million, and that student enrollment with increase by 335 students in pre-kindergarten.
The budget does not include $1.2 billion of one-time federal COVID funding to support school operations.
The district assumes a balanced budget in the next five years with revenue just surpassing expenses, based on the contingency that future salary increases are tied to increases in state aid.
The budget assumes enrollment remaining constant with state per pupil foundation allowance up 2% per year, federal grants flat, other state and local revenue up 2.0% per year.
If DPSCD receives a $94 million settlement for a literacy lawsuit, the district suggests pursuing a five-year plan spending $18 million annually.The Literacy Lawsuit funds are restricted to:
- Expand Orton Gillingham training.
- Fund expanded AI’s.
- Provide supplemental teachers to support English Language Learning students.
- Fund school repairs, maintenance.
- Fund student curriculum, materials, software.
The literacy lawsuit funds would allow the district to redirect current restricted grant funds to retain contracted nursing, continue afterschool and summer programming, offer one-time bonuses to staff, and allow supplemental investments for high school scheduling reform.
