Detroit Schools' Emergency Manager Stepping Down

CHICAGO — Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts announced Wednesday he is stepping down in two weeks.

Gov. Rick Snyder has yet to name a replacement. Roberts said his last day would be May 16, when his current contract expires.

In announcing his resignation, Roberts said he was confident that the district was on a path toward financial stability and that its fiscal emergency would be resolved by the end of 2016.

Roberts took over the school district in May 2011, replacing outgoing manager Robert Bobb, who had run the district since the state took it over in early 2009.

Roberts said chief financial officer William Aldridge will take on the additional role of chief administrative officer and oversee the procurement department and the Division of Technology and Information Services.

"We have made great strides toward eliminating our deficit and balancing the budget under Bill's financial leadership these past two years," Roberts said in a letter to DPS employees. "Financially we still face serious challenges, but we are improving. We've put systems and processes into place that make it easier for us to achieve our goal of eliminating the remaining $76 million deficit by the end of the 2015-2016 fiscal year, as outlined in the deficit reduction plan."

Roberts said he has recommended a successor to Snyder.

When he took over the helm, Roberts faced a $327 million accumulated deficit that was nearly 65% of DPS' $552 million general fund. Falling enrollment continues to be one of the district's central problems, with enrollment below 70,000, down from 118,400 in 2007.

In October 2011 the district came to market with $200 million of deficit bonds that it used to convert two-thirds of the $327 million deficit into long-term debt.

Roberts, who is 74, is a retired General Motors Corp. executive and before he came to DPS was a director at a private-equity investment firm.

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