Memo to Reformers: Detroit Public Schools Received 42 Percent More Money Per Pupil Than State Average

Karen D. Twomey, a member of the Ferndale Public Schools Board of Education and a teacher in Bloomfield Hills Schools, and Thomas Pedroni, an associate professor at Wayne State University, make their own pitch on how to fix Detroit Public Schools in a recent guest article for the Detroit Free Press.

Among the recommendations, they say the state should “invest in teaching staffing” and say “what little funding the district retains” is steered from the classroom to administrators.

ForTheRecord says: Detroit Public Schools in 2013-14 spent 25 percent more than the state average on instructional salaries and benefits. DPS spent $6,403 per pupil on instructional salaries and benefits, which the state describes as “the total classroom instructional salary and fringe benefit costs for classroom instructional personnel.” The statewide average is $5,140, according to the Michigan Department of Education’s Bulletin 1014.

Detroit Public Schools' general fund, which is used to pay for daily operations such as teachers’ salaries, received $12,931 per pupil in 2013-14, the most recent year data is available. That figure includes local, state and federal funding. That’s $3,810 more per pupil than the statewide average of $9,121, or 42 percent higher.