Detroit Public Schools Community District Approves $1.1 Billion Budget
The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) has greenlit a significant $1.1 billion budget for the upcoming 2026-2027 academic year, focusing on enhancing security measures and offering salary increases across the board for its employees.
In an effort to streamline administrative processes, the district is set to recruit additional staff, including nine school counselors and approximately 12 assistant principals. These hires aim to achieve a counselor-to-student ratio of 1:250, aligning with the American School Counselor Association’s recommendations.
The district faces a persistent issue with chronic absenteeism, as highlighted by the statistic that 60.9% of students were absent for 10% or more of the school days in the 2024-25 period, according to Chalkbeat Detroit.
To combat this challenge, DPSCD will expand its existing attendance incentive initiative, which rewards high school students with $100 weekly Visa gift cards for perfect attendance. The program will now include middle school students, who will receive $50 each week for maintaining perfect attendance.
Additionally, the district plans to extend yellow bus service to Pershing High School and Cody High School, following a successful pilot program at Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney. Most high school students currently rely on cars or public transportation to commute.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti emphasized the rationale behind the expanded bus services, stating, “80% of students who attend Cody are from the neighborhood, so it makes sense to offer yellow bus services there because they live by the school and we can, I think, improve student attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism.” He also noted, “Pershing has the highest chronic absenteeism level of the neighborhood high schools.”
In a move to support teachers, the district is increasing the budget for classroom supplies. Vitti explained, “We’re right now starting an engagement process of teachers to fully understand what do they really need for classrooms. What is the minimum, if you will, that schools should need as far as supplies?”
Security enhancements are also a key component of the new budget, which includes modern metal detectors and continued funding for additional security guards and police officers.
The district anticipates a $12.9 million increase in state funding, although the budget was formulated conservatively due to the state’s budget not being finalized. Superintendent Vitti commented on the situation, “Admittedly, I think at some level there’s an ignorance and a lack of understanding of how dollars work and how schools run. I think the other element is, you know, there’s folks that feel like K-12 is overfunded and they don’t want to support K-12 funding.”
