November 22, 2013
Michigan’s Education Achievement Authority (click here) has lost nearly a quarter of its students in the past year, a dramatic dip in its second year of operating 15 low-performing schools in Detroit.
The EAA, a statewide district formed by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2011 to take over failing schools, enrolled 7,589 students in K-12 at its 15 schools — 2,369 fewer than last fall, when it had 9,958 students across 12 direct-run schools and three charter schools. That’s a drop of 23.6 percent.
The biggest decline came at the district’s 12 direct-run schools, where 2,103 students left. At its charter schools, 266 fewer students enrolled.
The enrollment decline, documented in figures released this week by the Michigan Department of Education, is expected to seriously impact the bottom line of the state’s first recovery district. The EAA, which is supposed to turn around Michigan’s lowest-performing schools, has been heavily criticized by Democratic lawmakers but is a signature project of the governor....
