Detroit district: 110 schools must close

[Rose Siding]

In their worst doomsday prediction to date, Detroit Public Schools officials projected on Wednesday that the district will have to close nearly half of its schools and cut the budget by a third over the next three to five years to climb out of debt and keep up with declining enrollment.

The district will have to shutter 110 schools and shave $380 million in spending, officials said. Under the plan, 142 schools would remain open.

Officials have projected that the district will have only 100,000 students in 2008, or a little more than half of its enrollment before the state takeover in 1999. The student population now is about 140,000.

The projections come just days after Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said the city's shrinking population has led to a $231-million shortfall for next year's budget, meaning layoffs, salary cuts and other cost-saving measures such as the closure of the Belle Isle Aquarium and scaled-back bus transportation.

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