A stunning example of public – and charter -- school mismanagement

Michigan Capitol Confidential photo/Filth and dead mice in a room at Highland Park High School

The Mackinac Center is often criticized for its unrelenting criticism of public education and teacher unions, but Audrey Spalding of the center’s Michigan Capitol Confidential web page should be lauded for showing a horrific example of how big spending doesn’t equal quality schools, and also that charter school companies can also fail miserably in turning around a school.

Spalding reports that the Highland Park School District spent nearly $20,000 per pupil in 2010-11 – the highest expenditure rate in the state – yet the district schools were so thoroughly mismanaged and neglected that that they had rodents in the classrooms, holes in the ceilings and walls, and horrendous filth in the bathrooms.

“’It was terrible,’ a senior at the high school told Spalding. ‘We had to worry if something was going to crawl on us; worry if the ceiling was going to fall in on us.’"

The Capitol Confidential report found that subsequent charter school reform efforts have also failed:

“This fall, the district reopened as a charter district under a state pilot program created after Gov. Rick Snyder declared a financial emergency in Highland Park. School administrators who work for The Leona Group, the charter managementcompany that is running the schools, say that they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to clean and fix up the facilities. 

But Spalding found little evidence of that. She reports that  many of the toilets are caked with brown filth. And there's more:   "Ceiling tiles are missing in many of the buildings. One hallway wall in the high school is partially caved in.”

After an enrollment slide of about 50 percent, the district has just 1,145 students. But it exceeded $19,600 in total aid per pupil due to special allocations, including $5.1 million in federal funds.

Though Highland Park received double the amount that many districts survive on, the district suffered from millions of dollars in deficits before the takeover. A PTA president said at the time that the solution was simple – more funding for the district.