Detroit in the Cockpit

The Michigan treasurer announced Friday that Detroit Public Schools will take over management of the struggling Highland Park School District.

The announcement came the day the Highland Park district ran out of cash and faced its first so-called payless payday.

 In response, lawmakers quickly crafted and approved a bill that allows another school district to take over Highland Park’s buildings or allow its students to leave for another district with their per-pupil state aid funding following them.

Gov. Rick Snyder signed the legislation the same day.

The emergency managers of the Highland Park and Detroit districts and state Treasury Andy Dillon last week signed a memorandum of agreement that hands management of the district to the Detroit emergency manager. The agreement remains in effect until the end of the school year and will allow Highland Park students to remain in their current classrooms.

The district is located in the Detroit suburb of Highland Park and nearly half of its students come from Detroit.

Following a review by a state team, Snyder in early January declared the district to be in a state of fiscal emergency, and appointed Jack Martin, a former chief financial officer for the U.S. Department of Education, as emergency manager.

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Michigan
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