The Detroit Bankruptcy & K-12 Schooling
by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 24, 2013 at 1:44 pm
Cross-posted from Education Week
Cross-posted from Education Week
So, while I was en route to Detroit on Thursday, I got word that the city had filed for bankruptcy. It was strange. While the story was all over the airport televisions and the hotel newspapers, I encountered barely any discussion of it from the folks I met. Anyway, lots one might say about the situation.
After all, in his letter announcing the decision, Governor Snyder noted that Detroiters wait an average of 58 minutes for police to respond (compared with a national average of 11 minutes); that 40% of the city's street lights didn't work in the first quarter of this year; and that roughly 78,000 city structures have been abandoned. If one were inclined, one could pen a treatise on municipal bankruptcy law, underfunded pensions, cost curves in health care obligations, and the missteps and corruption that brought Detroit to this pass. But it's a summer day. I'm betting most of you don't have the patience for any of that, and I'm definitely not prepared to expound on it.
So, we'll set down the tomes and instead just touch on a couple thoughts that struck me in reflecting on the
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