The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) board voted Tuesday to adopt a $1.1 billion budget for the 2026-2027 school year. It prioritizes initiatives to increase security and includes pay raises for all employees.
The budget also seeks to reduce administrative burdens by hiring nine more school counselors and about 12 more assistant principals. The district wants to have a ratio of one counselor for every 250 students, as recommended by the American School Counselor Association.
DPSCD struggles with chronic absenteeism, which occurs when a student misses 10% or more of school days. 60.9% of DPSCD students were chronically absent in 2024-25, according to Chalkbeat Detroit.
The new budget broadens the district's existing attendance incentive program, which has provided $100 per week in Visa gift cards to high school students with perfect attendance. Middle schoolers will receive $50 a week for perfect attendance in the coming school year.
DPSCD is also expanding yellow bus service to two additional high schools: Pershing High School and Cody High School.
The majority of the district's high schoolers travel to school by car or use public buses. A pilot yellow bus program was launched last year, serving Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti presented on the budget during a May 21 meeting.
“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,” Vitti said. “Pershing has the highest chronic absenteeism level of the neighborhood high schools.”
The district is also increasing funding for teachers to buy classroom supplies.
“We're right now starting an engagement process of teachers to fully understand what do they really need for classrooms,” Vitti said. “What is the minimum, if you will, that schools should need as far as supplies? Define that, increase the budget to allow that, so that we are very clear, we're not asking parents to bring Kleenex boxes or to fund additional materials for schools.”
Security initiatives in the budget include an increase in modern metal detectors at neighborhood high schools, large K-8 schools, and Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School. It also maintains funding secured last year for additional security guards and police officers.
The district expects a $12.9 million overall increase in state funding. But, Vitti said the budget was built conservatively because the state has not yet finalized its yearly budget.
Proposed budgets from the Republican-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate varied greatly in their allocation to support academically at-risk students and English language learners. Vitti was asked why some at the state level are reluctant to create K-12 funding allocations.
“Admittedly, I think at some level there's an ignorance and a lack of understanding of how dollars work and how schools run,” Vitti said. “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.”
