Baltimore columnist: Money won't fix Detroit schools

[sehender1]

Interest in Detroit's problems going transcontinental?

I just blogged at FreepOpinion.com about a column I read this morning in which a Baltimore columnist writes in a San Francisco newspaper about what won't fix Detroit schools. Wow.

http://www.freep.com/article/2009091...etroit-schools

[lilpup]

"With the millions of federal tax dollars that must have been poured in to Detroit public schools..."

yet for all the data currently available Michigan was still a major donor state [[i.e. we pay more to the Feds than we get back in funding or benefits - no one outside of Michigan taxpayers can claim to have paid into Detroit). That's likely changed this last year or two, but certainly not due to millions poured into Detroit schools.

[DetroitPlanner]

"With the millions of federal tax dollars that must have been poured in to Detroit public schools..."

yet for all the data currently available Michigan was still a major donor state. That's likely changed this last year or two, but certainly not due to millions poured into Detroit schools.

I'm pretty sure we are still a donor state. Maryland [[DC metroplex) and California [[more representatives in DC than any other state by far) sure the heck are not.

[Detroitnerd]

This guy is using the tragedy of Detroit schools as a shillalegh to flog Democrats and to link Conyers [[useless) with Kilpatrick [[harmful). Miracles didn't happen when Lansing [[Republicans) took over either.

[digitalvision]

Yes, Michigan has been a donor state I believe, but that doesn't mean SOME money doesn't come back, and a larger slice of that money is going to go to the largest district, and I'm sure in the millions because I know districts a fraction of the size of Detroit who get over a million dollars from the feds.

Just because a gov't entity is a "donor" entity it does not mean they don't still get the vast majority of that money back. Donor only means that the balance is weighted toward more money coming out as a whole then coming back. Federally-assigned dollars are still going to the DPS.

The writer's point in the article is not about dollars, but culture. Money doesn't fix this problem, the culture does because if the culture held the officials accountable, and didn't keep electing clowns to the school board, the financial issues would not of been there in the first place.

[professorscott]

Giving more money to the Detroit Board of Education is like giving more crack to a crackhead: sure they'll use it, but that won't do anyone any good.

Over the years that I've been in Michigan, since the late 1970s, Detroit has had good City Councils and bad City Councils, but I've never seen a Board of Education that was any better than catastrophic. To paraphrase something William F. Buckley, Jr. once wrote, you couldn't do much worse picking names randomly from the phone book.

I'm not sure why that's been the case, and maybe some of my fellow bloggers would argue the point, but I strongly believe it's so. At least the Lions win a game every now and then.

The Detroit Public School system has done more to depopulate and destroy the City than any other force has or ever could. Enemy bombing of the City could not hope to do as much damage, nor for the damage to last as long.

[lilpup]

DV, it's just a redistribution of Michigan dollars routed through the Feds, with about 10% or so shaved off the top. It's a bogus argument meant to imply that Detroit is being propped up by the Feds/nation, rather than the reality of it being paid for in full by Michigan dollars.

You want to talk about culture?? Why is it that one of the most populous states in the country [[thus theoretically requiring more Fed dollars returned for benefits e.g. Soc. Sec., Medicaid/Medicare, Vets benefits, etc.) which almost happens to contain the most impoverished city to boot, is still a donor state???

[daddeeo]

That's a piss poor excuse for the pitiful state of the DPS.
More money won't fix the schools or city hall. Corruption and moral decay have gone too far. It's like mold spreading throughout a house. Much has to be torn down and replaced.

[lilpup]

Having the state continuously drained of its assets is a very real problem that negatively affects all here, especially the state's biggest city. It's reality. Deal with it.

[Patrick]

Michigan is, or at least was a donor state. BUT, what about the billions the feds poured back into the Detroit-based automakers? Wouldn’t that count towards Michigan’s well-being? In reality, Detroit needs a cultural change more than money. Sure, low cash amounts will always be detrimental, but not nearly as much of a problem as Detroit cultural issues. I read that in many Detroit schools as high as 95% of the kids don’t have a father around. DPS needs a new frame of mind.

[iheartthed]

Michigan is, or at least was a donor state. BUT, what about the billions the feds poured back into the Detroit-based automakers? Wouldn’t that count towards Michigan’s well-being? In reality, Detroit needs a cultural change more than money. Sure, low cash amounts will always be detrimental, but not nearly as much of a problem as Detroit cultural issues. I read that in many Detroit schools as high as 95% of the kids don’t have a father around. DPS needs a new frame of mind.

I'm not quite sure what your point is. Should DPS's funding be tied to how many of the students have fathers? Btw, 95% is an absurdly high number. I'm curious of your source for that stat.

[KENSINGTONY]

The DPS is the last bastion of the Coleman Young/Kwame Kilpatrick minions who think that the resources[[both financial and material) are theirs for the taking.This is from the board members on down.Until that mindset is eliminated,the school sytem will continue to suffer for it.

[Patrick]

Should DPS's funding be tied to how many of the students have fathers?

Never said that. BUT, it is a problem tied in with all the other problems that plague DPS. Throwing money into DPS is almost like throwing it into a well. Money won't change shit unless the culture and way of thinking changes. Until then, you will continue to see Detroiters send their kids to schools just over 8 Mile in Warren and SCS. At this stage, would you send your child to a public school in Detroit?

[iheartthed]

Never said that. BUT, it is a problem tied in with all the other problems that plague DPS. Throwing money into DPS is almost like throwing it into a well. Money won't change shit unless the culture and way of thinking changes. Until then, you will continue to see Detroiters send their kids to schools just over 8 Mile in Warren and SCS. At this stage, would you send your child to a public school in Detroit?

Probably not, but that isn't because I feel that schools in Detroit are that much worse off than any other public school district in America. DPS actually does have a few schools that do a great job of educating the students. Since I am a well educated, solidly middle class citizen, my kids would very likely go to one of those better schools. But when I have kids, I'm probably not sending them to public school period, whether it be an urban or suburban district.

I will say that if I had kids right now, I'd rather have them go to a Detroit Public School than a New York City public school [[the city in which I currently reside).

[vetalalumni]

Darn. I missed the "Heart of the City: Detroit's Dropout Factories" show this past weekend on BET. Hosted by Chris Webber and featuring Doctor Cosby and others.

Did anyone here on DYes watch this show, and what can you report about it?

http://www.bet.com/OnTV/BETShows/HOC...troit_Main.htm

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/d...of_the_ci.html

[elganned]

Corruption in big cities is and has been endemic, and it doesn't seem to be party-dependent although Democrats shoulder most of the blame because most large cities are run by Democratic majorities--Philly, Detroit, D.C., Chicago, etc.

I think at least Robb is trying to make a dent in the complacence and sense of sinecure in the DPS heirarchy. Let's hope he doesn't get ousted before he can make a real difference.

[Hamtragedy]

ProfessorScott said

"The Detroit Public School system has done more to depopulate and destroy the City than any other force has or ever could. Enemy bombing of the City could not hope to do as much damage, nor for the damage to last as long."

Can't say I disagree.