D etroit can’t keep its schoolchildren: Each day, an estimated 25,000 school-age children go to suburban districts, leaving seats empty in classrooms citywide.
More than 8,000 attend traditional districts in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties, while 17,000 are in suburban charters, state data from 2013-14 show.
Some suburban districts, especially those in financial distress, now rely on Detroit’s children — and the state aid they bring with them — to survive.
These reciprocal ties played out publicly this past week when East Detroit Public Schools, just north of Detroit’s Eight Mile border, reversed its decision to end participation in the state Schools of Choice program for students outside Macomb County.