DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – Detroit Public Schools Community District have budgeted to spend $3.5 million on marketing, something it says is important to keep enrollment increasing.
The district stated that the public is “unaware” of the improvement the district has made.
“Many Detroiters do not think the District has improved although universal K-12 indicators have improved,” the district stated in a recent update to the school board.
The district said it needed to do better getting its message out or enrollment would not continue to increase and future bond initiatives that would be used to improve facilities would not pass.
The district will spend $853,000 of the budgeted $3.5 million on staffing costs. It will also spend $554,000 on advertising – which will include billboards, radio, social media, TV and email. Another $650,000 would be spent on a “marketing partner.”
After decades of a continued reduction in enrollment, the district had a slight increase in enrollment in 2024-25. Enrollment increased from 48,476 in 2023-24 to 49,038 in 2024-25.