Excess capacity, high labor and pension costs, fleeing customers, ineffective management, outside competition and a reputation for low quality. You're right if you identified these as conditions that led to the demise of the American auto industry? You'd also be right if you said they are the same factors which helped to bring the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) to the brink of bankruptcy. After a steady exodus of students and massive budget cuts, DPS began the fiscal year, with a $259 million deficit. This morning’s Wall Street Journal chronicles the story and why bankruptcy may not be the worst step for the school system.
Curiously, last week the Detroit Public Schools received $148 million federal “stimulus” money. Aren't you glad you can save jobs by merely propping up a monopolistic, corrupt, costly and failing system that graduates about 58 percent of its students?
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