Even $25 million can’t prevent Detroit Public School buildings from tumblin’ down.
After a recent audit by Michigan’s OHM advising firm, DPS Superintendent Nikolai Vitti admitted to the school board on Friday that the funds needed to bring buildings up to an acceptable standard could leap quite a bit — from $25 million to $1.2 billion within five years.
And there’s no specific plan in place to find those funds.
OHM deemed only one third of DPS buildings in “good” shape, while another third were found “unsatisfactory” if not in “poor” condition.
The budget is “literally a drop in the bucket of what the overall need is,” Vitti said, but confessed that the city still doesn’t have a plan going forward, according to Chalkbeat. “This problem only compounds itself in the years to come.”
OHM’s review did not take into consideration the school district’s 19 vacant buildings that were boarded up to prevent safety hazards to the public, as the Detroit Free Press describes.
When asked about a specific plan, DPS communications director Crystal Wilson told The Daily Caller, “I dont think we’re there yet.”
Today was about presenting to the finance committee a summary of the findings, Wilson said, adding that Vitti can either seek additional funds from Michigan’s legislature or from private philanthropy.
“That’s as broad as we are.” (RELATED: Half Of Detroit’s Teachers Advise Applicants To Apply Elsewhere)
As for the price to conduct the review, it was nearly $1 million.
