So How Are Those Emergency Manager School Districts Doing?!

I took this from the Save Michigan's Public Schools facebook page (a good page to join if you are interested), and it kind of boggles the mind.

Under the management of EFM Don Witherspoon, Muskegon Heights, the first fully privatized Michigan school district, has just borrowed $3.5 million from the State of Michigan. From Gongwer:

"Two of the school districts currently under emergency financial management were approved Friday for a total $6.5 million in emergency loans from the state.

The Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board found that both Highland Park Public Schools and Muskegon Heights Public Schools would run deficits for the current school year and needed the loans to cover those shortfalls.

Highland Park will borrow $3 million and Muskegon Heights $3.5 million. Under the loan agreements, Treasurer Andy Dillon would have to approve use of the funds, which are only to pay vendors.

The districts are alone in having their operations passed to a charter school management company as part of the effort to repair their finances. Managers in both districts found they would not be able to balance their budgets under their prior management structures."

Well, I guess they couldn't balance their budgets under the new management structures, either, and. . . oh, yeah. . . with the new management structures there is no public representation. . .