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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 27 OcTOber 2020
Detroit Schools released from 11 years of state oversight

By COREY WILLIAMS this process and gave us a
Associated Press chance and an opportu-
DETROIT (AP) — A commis- nity to show we could do
sion on Monday released it," district Superintendent
the 47,000-student Detroit Nikolai Vitti told the com-
Public Schools from more mission after the waivers
than a decade of state fi- were granted.
nancial oversight, restoring Vitti was appointed in 2017.
full control of the district's fi- Commission member Ron
nances to the city's elected Rose on Monday praised
school board. Vitti's work in helping turn
The last time the district was things around.
fully in charge was in 2009, "Things were such a mess
before a series of state-ap- when we started that I nev-
pointed emergency man- er thought this day would
agers were installed with come, certainly not as
a directive to fix a district quickly as it has," Rose said.
neck-deep in red ink and In 2011, the district's leg-
whose students routinely acy budget deficit stood
scored at or near the bot- at about $327 million. Doz-
tom on standardized tests. ens of schools had been
The Detroit Financial Re- closed.
view Commission voted Through this past August,
unanimously to grant waiv- the Detroit Public Schools In this April 23, 2020, file photo, Detroit Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, speaks in Detroit.
ers from oversight for the Community District had Associated Press
Detroit Public Schools Com- nearly $103 million in fiscal Both districts have had hard decisions that would cial oversight which gave
munity District, which is in year revenue and about three consecutive bal- be necessary." the district more discre-
charge of educating stu- $54 million in expenditures. anced budgets, according Michigan deemed Detroit tion over its spending, and
dents and other school op- Its general fund balance to the commission. schools to be high-risk after the state no longer had to
erations, and Detroit Public stood at $63.5 million and "It's unfortunate that we the federal government in approve its improvement
Schools, which was tasked the district had about $36 have to celebrate not be- 2008 raised questions about plan. Enrollment in Detroit
with paying off long-term million in its rainy-day fund. ing controlled or overseen $53 million in spending. has dropped by more than
debt. The legacy debt-paying en- by the state at the level In recent years, control 100,000 since 1993 when it
The waivers are in place tity had received enough that it once was," Vitti told slowly was returned to the served about 183,000 stu-
through Dec. 31, 2021, in property tax receipts to reporters Monday. "I don't school board and district dents. The plummeting en-
when the Detroit Financial make debt service pay- anticipate being in a situ- superintendent. rollment meant a loss of mil-
Review Commission will re- ments of nearly $40 million ation where we would go In 2013, the state Education lions of dollars in state per-
visit the district's finances. and $16 million. It had a back into a deficit ... we Department dropped its pupil funding and mirrored
"I do appreciate how ev- general fund cash balance would manage this budget "high-risk status" for the dis- the city's massive popula-
eryone was committed to of $3 million in June. the right way and make the trict and eased some finan- tion decline.q

Counting the vote: Will we know who won on election night?

By The Associated Press President Donald Trump now in Pennsylvania, votes
HOW WILL VARIOUS BAL- has repeatedly warned that arrive by mail three
LOTS BE COUNTED, AND of voting fraud without of- days after Nov. 3 will be
WHAT RESULTS WILL BE fering any evidence. Be- counted, after an intense
KNOWN ON ELECTION cause of that, there are legal battle that went all
NIGHT? concerns that he will use the way to the U.S. Su-
Millions of Americans have delays in vote-counting preme Court last week.
already voted, but each to declare results illegiti- Republicans have filed
state has different rules on mate. While results might another suit against the
when it's allowed to actu- come in later than usual extension. Also, Pennsyl-
ally start counting those this year, that's because of vania doesn't allow early
ballots. That is going to pro- a change in how people processing of mail-in bal-
duce results coming in at are voting, not malfea- lots, further complicating
very different times — per- sance or fraud. matters.
haps days or even weeks Here is another wrinkle: Na- In Michigan, another hotly
after Election Day.In some Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen, cast their ballots tionwide delivery delays at contested state, an ap-
during early voting in Indianapolis, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020.
places, election officials Associated Press the U.S. Postal Service are peals court has struck
can begin processing bal- sparking fears that ballots down a 14-day ballot-
lots weeks before Election tion Day and will speed up election while also work- might not arrive in time to counting extension, lead-
Day. That means workers the release of results. ing through the unprec- be counted. Republicans, ing the state's top elec-
can start verifying voter But it's not that simple. edented number of mail- including Trump's cam- tion official to urge voters
information while also re- In some of the most critical in votes. This dynamic is paign, have been filing to drop off their ballots in
moving ballots from their battleground states, laws likely to delay results and lawsuits to stop election person rather than use
envelopes to physically prevent the early process- heighten the potential for officials from counting bal- the Postal Service. Courts
get them ready for tabula- ing of ballots. So on Nov. 3, big shifts if in-person vote lots that are delivered af- have also nixed similar ex-
tion. Doing so readies bal- Election Day, officials will tallies are upended by the ter Election Day. tensions in Wisconsin and
lots for counting on Elec- have to run an in-person counting of mail-in ballots. For example: As of right Indiana. q