Highland Park schools could face consolidation-merger with DPS, Hamtramck may be needed

Highland Park— While state officials decide whether to put the fiscally troubled Highland Park Schools under an emergency manager, observers see another likely fate: consolidation with a neighboring school system.

District officials will make their case for avoiding a state takeover at a hearing Friday before state school Superintendent Mike Flanagan.

But to some education experts, the die is already cast for the district, which required a cash advance from the state last week to stay open.

A report from an independent review team for Highland Parks Schools made one thing clear: The district cannot survive as a standalone entity…………………………………………………………………………….

“These kids are going to have to go to school somewhere. It’s a question of which district is going to take them,” said Eric Scorsone, a professor at Michigan State University and an expert on the state’s emergency manager law. “The law doesn’t allow one school district to be forced to take another’s kids. Hamtramck or Detroit would be the only real candidates. It has to be a contiguous school district.”

Detroit Public Schools is the state’s largest district, with a $1.1 billion budget and 66,000 students; Hamtramck Schools is a small district with a $32 million budget and 3,000 students.

DPS and Hamtramck are on the state “watch list” for districts with sizable deficits, but both are in better shape than Highland Park, according to state documents.

Highland Park Schools has fewer than 1,000 students and an $18.8 million budget.

Thomas Niczay, superintendent of Hamtramck schools, said he doesn’t have space to add 1,000 students.

“Room is a problem. We have a few openings in kindergarten. Our high school is pretty much full,” Niczay said.

At least one other Highland Park official wants other options.

“Consolidation is not the answer,” said Robert Davis, secretary of the Highland Park Board of Education. “When you look at the state of public education in the state of Michigan, there is a dire need for the governor and the Legislature to provide resources to fund public education rather than coming up with systemic ways to destroy it.”

DPS has suffered from overcrowding in some classes, especially in the lower grades such as kindergarten, but has empty classrooms in many buildings. It has lost more than 100,000 students in the past decade — many to charter schools in Detroit.

Steve Wasko, a DPS spokesman, declined to comment on a possible consolidation with Highland Park.

Robert Bobb, former emergency manager for DPS, said joining Highland Park Schools with his old district is worth considering.

“It does make sense given Highland Park is a very small student population, its proximity to the city and DPS schools,” he said Monday. “To me it would be a natural: consolidation of both districts.”

During his tenure with DPS, Bobb closed 75 schools. He said that to make a consolidation successful, leaders would need to build support and understanding with parents and the community as a whole.

“At the end of the day, it would be in everyone’s best interest to do this,” Bobb said. “The whole idea around consolidation is it would make financial and academic sense.”

During his time in Detroit from March 2009 to May 2011, Bobb said he noticed that Highland Park and the nearby River Rouge Schools were facing similar financial struggles, though he never talked to state officials about including those districts in DPS’ reforms.

If Gov. Rick Snyder names an emergency manager for Highland Park Schools, that person would have broad powers to close schools and cancel or modify contracts. But an emergency manager wouldn’t be able to close or merge the district.

Under Michigan law, only emergency managers or school boards can request consolidation of one school district with another. And for a merger to take place, state officials and voters in both districts must approve, said Jan Ellis, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education.

“That is not a topic of conversation right now,” Ellis said.

Highland Park Schools Superintendent Edith Hightower said if the state gave the district more time and financial support, officials could solve their problems and remain independent.

“As a resident of Highland Park and a graduate of Highland Park Schools, I don’t think it will be a good thing (to have an emergency manager). We don’t know what it will be like,” she said.

A sense of urgency has fallen upon Highland Park Schools after state Treasurer Andy Dillon said last week he reluctantly approved an $188,000 cash advance to allow the district to make payroll through Feb. 15.

The district’s deficit has increased from $6.6 million to $11.3 million over the past fiscal year. Several months ago, the state asked the district for a cash-flow forecast, data that Dillon said still hasn’t been delivered.

Last week, the district told Dillon it needed an extra $3.4 million — on top of $4.2 million it got in August — to get through the rest of the school year.

Dillon said the most the state can legally give the district is an additional $2 million.

“This district has done nothing to demonstrate to me they have a handle on their finances,” Dillon said last week.

Forty percent to 50 percent of students at Highland Park Schools are residents of the Detroit school district who attend under open enrollment, which means half of the smaller district’s population could leave at any time.

Highland Park’s enrollment plunged from 3,179 to 1,331 between 2006 and the last school year. Current estimates show a pupil count of 969.

More than 1,000 Highland Park children enroll outside the district — either at a charter school or in DPS — rather than their home school, according to Wayne RESA, a regional agency that provides services to Wayne County school districts.

The state review team said efforts to reform DPS and recent legislation to lift the cap on charters schools are likely to worsen the declining enrollment.

But Hightower said those 1,000 students who go elsewhere represent a potential of $8 million more in state aid if Highland Park could attract them back.

“We are an option for all those children,” she said.

jchambers@detnews.com

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