A Seven-Year Switch - Charter Management Perils in the Troubled Highland Park District - Introduction

Oct 15, 2026

A Seven-Year Switch examines how the Highland Park school district in Detroit transitioned from conventional district governance to a charter school academy system amid severe enrollment collapse and long-running fiscal crisis. It traces the state’s 1994 charter law, emergency management, and the shift from Leona Group to Promise Schools after state control ended in 2018. The narrative details staff layoffs, vendor nonpayment, leadership indictments, and the operational challenges of rebuilding trust, stabilizing a fragile school, and improving academic outcomes for a poor and mobile student population while preserving cultural gains.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background: Crisis Point

Leona Steps In

A Seven-Year Switch: Charter Management Perils in the Troubled Highland Park District By Ben DeGrow Introduction Seven years ago, Highland Park Schools went through a highly publicized period of turmoil and organizational upheaval. The troubled time for that Detroit-area district was brought on by a steep drop in enrollment and the deep financial crisis that followed. By contrast, the district’s newest upheaval is rooted less in obvious signs of distress than in conflicting visions of what success looks like. The state enacted a charter school law in 1994, and the first charter school, known in state law as a “public school academy,” opened a year later. By 2012, the idea of governing a school through a contract, or charter, had expanded beyond individual schools to encompass entire districts. Highland Park, in metro Detroit, and Muskegon Heights, on the state’s west side, both came under state emergency management because of their fiscal woes. The emergency manager for Highland Park decided to convert the conventional district into a “public school academy system.”When the manager sought outside help to oversee the schools’operations and instruction, only the Leona Group, a Michigan-based charter management company, stepped forward. In 2018, the state relinquished its control over Highland Park, and the newly empowered district school board pushed Leona out in favor of another management company: Promise Schools. The new operator has the charge of bringing Highland Park’s sole public school to new levels of academic achievement and winning back thousands of students who have left for opportunities elsewhere. But many families with students at the school are unhappy with the Highland Park board, which first must prove it can calm a turbulent situation and regain their trust. Educators and officials in Highland Park have struggled with the task of preparing the city’s poor and often transient student population for college and career. The new school operator has a hard task in front of it. The school is improving yet still fragile, and its new leaders will have to find a way to preserve and build on the cultural gains of the last few years. They will also have to help student achievement, which has started to make gains, improve more and improve faster—all while dealing with the disruption that brought them to Highland Park in the first place. Background: Crisis Point Highland Park is a 3-square-mile city, bounded almost entirely within Detroit. The city peaked in population before World War II, as part of a thriving center of automotive production. For decades, the small city was the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation. Plant and office closures, white flight and related socioeconomic pressures changed the landscape, however. As a result of long-term fiscal distress, the city government came under state emergency management, which lasted from 2000 to 2009. Troubles for the school system followed shortly after the city left state management; Highland Park City Schools reached bottom during the 2011-12 school year. The district’s students were more likely to drop out than to graduate (within six years of starting high school). Deteriorating facilities and chaotic classrooms became common and even expected. Enrollment fell below 1,000 students from a height of nearly 4,000 . More than two-thirds of public school students who live in the district had fled to another district or a charter school. The biggest drop-off in enrollment, though, came from fewer Detroit residents transferring into Highland Park through Schools of Choice, a state law by which many students opt to cross district lines. Starting from its 2008 peak, student enrollment plummeted by 74% in four years, but the district reduced its spending by only 53% over the same time period. The resulting fiscal mismanagement contributed to it starting the 2011-12 school year with an $11.3 million hole in its general fund. More than $1.7 million i

FAQs

What major conditions drove Highland Park Schools into organizational turmoil?

Highland Park faced a steep enrollment drop and a deep financial crisis that followed, leading to emergency state management and widespread school-system instability.

How did the district shift from traditional governance to a charter school system?

In 2012, an emergency manager sought to convert the district into a public charter school academy system, and later contracts brought in charter operators to run schools and instruction under oversight boards.

Why did later management changes not automatically resolve community concerns?

Families and residents questioned new operators, requiring time to prove good faith, rebuild trust, and stabilize school operations while continuing academic improvements amid disruption.

Oct 15, 2026

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