Dive Brief:

• Detroit Public Schools released its 2015-16 budget, and while enrollment is expected to decline, the plan calls for class sizes in grades 4 through 12 to increase by five students.  
• The increase in students per classroom is an attempt to cut costs and close the district's deficit, with documents indicating it ended the 2014-15 school year $127 million behind. Under this plan, that shortfall will decline to $125 million, and DPS Emergency Manager Jack Martin says it should be fully eliminated by the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year.  
• The class size increase means class sizes will jump from 33 to 38 students in fourth and fifth grades, and from 38 to 43 students in sixth through 12th grades.

Dive Insight:

"Wow" is the only printable word one can muster. More baffling than the decision to increase class sizes is DPS Emergency Manager Jack Martin's contradictory statements on the district's needs.  According to the Detroit Free Press, "Jack Martin wrote that the district’s success will be defined by its ability to advance academic quality and stabilize and grow enrollment." How can a district advance academic quality when 43 15-year olds are crammed into a room? Is letting students languish in a classroom worth the $2 million deficit decrease?

Speaking of which, if the deficit is expected to still be at $125 million at the end of the 2015-16 school year (only dropping by $2 million this year), how does the emergency manager expect the deficit to be fully erased by 2017-18? This seems like impossible math and ultimately points to the overarching failures of the decision to plan DPS under the supervision of Emergency Management.  

The auto industries and the banks got bailed out, but what about the school districts? Detroit is not alone: Philadelphia is also in the midst of massive budget issues. What's the point in having a school district if it's merely a hold room for students?