Update 2:00 p.m.
An emergency manager may soon take charge of the Highland Park School District. A state review panel today recommended the governor appoint someone to fix the school district’s "financial emergency."
The financial review team has been looking at the Highland Park School District’s books since November.
The panel’s report to the governor finds the school district is $11 million in the red. That works out to about $10 thousand for every student enrolled. The school district’s deficit has grown by $3 million in just the last year. The school district’s debt has grown, as its student population has fallen. Nearly 3,200 students attended Highland Park schools in 2006. This year, fewer than a thousand students are enrolled.
“It is what it is.," laments Edith Hightower, Highland Park’s School Superintendent, "I don’t disagree with any of the statements that were documented [in the report]."
Emergency managers are already running the Detroit public schools, as well as the cities of Flint, Pontiac, Ecorse and Benton Harbor. Financial review teams are also looking at Detroit and Inkster.
The state Education Department is also conducting a preliminary review of the financial status of the Muskegon Heights School District.
1:04 p.m.
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (AP) - A review team is recommending an emergency manager for Highland Park Schools after determining the district is in a financial emergency.
Michigan's Treasury Department says in a release Wednesday that a final report by the 10-member independent review team has been given to Gov. Rick Snyder. Snyder has 10 days to review the report and make a decision if the district is in a financial emergency.
Highland Park is a small city partially surrounded by Detroit. The school district's budget deficit stands at $11.3 million. The Treasury Department says expenditures outpaced revenues by nearly $4 million in the last fiscal year. The district also has had an operating deficit in five of the past six years.
Enrollment has dropped from 3,179 students to 969 over the past five years.
