DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – The Detroit Public Schools Community District is saying that school funding is “not adequate, equitable, or even equal” in a budget document.

The claim was made in city documents published for the June 6 Finance Committee meeting.

Taxpayer dollars.

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The Detroit Public Schools Community District has been one of the biggest benefactors in terms of taxpayer dollars for a variety of reasons the past 10 years.

In 2016, the state Legislature approved a bailout that has cost $760 million and allowed for the newly named Detroit Public Schools Community District to be created. The district was in an estimated $2 billion financial hole at the time.

During the post-pandemic years from 2020 to 2025, the Detroit Public School Community District received $1.3 billion in federal money.

In 2023, the district received $94.4 million approved by the state Legislature as part of a settlement over a claim made by former Detroit students they didn’t receive an adequate education.

In 2023-24, Detroit Public Schools Community District received $27,449 per pupil to its general fund, far above the state average of $15,206 per pupil. That’s according to the Michigan Department of Education.

The district responds.

The district’s full statement: “Michigan school funding is not adequate, equitable, or even equal. The District has higher levels of student needs (poverty, IEP rates, student mobility), but receives less general fund revenue than other SE Michigan school districts. Even after the Governor’s proposed per pupil funding increases, the District will receive $3,835 less than the highest funded districts in Southeast Michigan. If the District was funded at similar levels, it would receive an additional $185M per year in general fund revenue. Nearly half of the District’s funding is restricted, 30% of the restricted federal funds must be used to provide supplemental services, not supplant minimum state funding levels covered by the General Fund.”