Detroit Plans to Turn 41 Schools Over to Outside Operators

Teacher Calvin Hobbs works with students at Timbuktu Academy of Science and Technology, one of nine existing charter schools in Detroit. The district is making plans to turn nearly a third of its 141 schools over to charter operators or education-management organizations over the next few years.

—AP

More and more urban districts doing the same

By Mary Ann Zehr

The financially embattled Detroit school system has announced a controversial plan to turn nearly a third of the district’s 141 schools over to charter operators or education-management organizations, some as early as next school year. Officials say their only other option is to close dozens of low-performing schools.

The 73,000-student Detroit district’s plan to hand 41 schools over to outside managers borrows a page from the same playbook that a growing number of large urban districts seem to be using.

“You’re seeing more of this activity by school district leaders, but it’s not their only strategy. It’s the right strategy for some schools in some circumstances,” said Greg Richmond, the president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, in Chicago. “We saw none of...