There's also the effect that Bloomfield Hills, West Bloomfield, Rochester Hills, and other affluent areas had on Pontiac. Those folks that had the money, could move to the more affluent neighborhoods to take advantage of living with more affluent folks, leaving the less-affluent behind. I've not researched it, but have been told by former Pontiac students, that Pontiac was once a well respected and excellent school district. From what those former students have told me, I've learned that the Pontiac School District started to fall apart sometime in the late 1960's or early 1970's when (the State Government?) required integrated bussing. People weren't ready for that sort of thing and a boatload of white folks freaked out and moved out. A sudden population drop then resulted in decreased funding.
In addition, this left many black folks that had recently moved from southern states (lot's of horrible crap going on there at the time, of course) to Pontiac to mostly work on auto assembly jobs for a decent basic wage, and I'd guess, not as much overt racism. Finally, and I'll have to research this as well, but I'm pretty sure it is like this. When the auto industry hit the skids in the early and mid 1980's, many of the assembly line jobs went as well and continued to dwindle to near zero currently. Same crap happened in Flint, MI too. Now, Pontiac Schools had some serious downsizing and a bunch of people that weren't getting any golden parachutes as they lost jobs on the assembly line. With high unemployment, I think education took the backseat as a high priority for many Pontiac residents as they were barely able to eke out a decent living. I have friends that taught in Pontiac too. They loved and hated their jobs. They found that high expectations for them were plentiful, but the resources to live up to those expectations, nonexistent. I hear that the kindergarten class sizes there currently hover around 40 kids per class.
UPDATED INFO: I just checked with a source in Oakland County's Intermediate school district. As of February 2013, to save money, Pontiac Schools has mandated that all k-6 classrooms have 40 students
Isn't that illegal? If it isn't, it should be. It what universe is sharing a classroom with 39 other students going to improve education? This is one of MI's biggest problems facing the future (and I would guess many other states, as well). They need to modernize the economy, because they don't have any money, but in order to modernize the economy, they need to make a giant education investment. We have a dismal proportion of citizens with college degrees, despite the fact that we have excellent universities. Doesn't add up. Study after study shows the ROI that education "spending" yields, yet we still continue to spend more on prison than college. If MI actually wants to grow, we should be offering world class education starting at age 4. Even if it takes a tax increase, I'd be the first to vote for a politician of either party who has the balls to propose one.... to save money, Pontiac Schools has mandated that all k-6 classrooms have 40 students
Crazy, isn't it? What seems even a bit crazier is that not one local news outlet has taken notice. If they're not your kids and the problem isn't as immediate as a pothole, people ignore it. Our society as a whole has been ignoring the fact that school funding is out of balance and we are creating lifelong deficiencies that will cost us future opportunities. Another kick in the clock-weights for school districts like Pontiac is the manner in which test scores are reported to the public. As if they are more than just a record of the general level of affluence of the families that attend the schools. (Socio-economics and test scores typically have a .9 correlation or more.) Take Pontiac's MEAP (Michigan Educational Assesment Program) scores. I looked at the MEAP 8th grade passing scores for nearby affluent Novi Schools and compared those with Pontiac. The mean average percent correct for Novi Schools students vs. Pontiac Schools students was plus three point seven percent. Not too bad if you imagine that you scored 3.7 percent less than a kid sitting next to you in some math class. Problem is, the State Department of Education uses cut scores in it's public reports. Cut scores that vary from year to year also. Instead the cut scores were set so 92% of Novi schools students passed the MEAP that year. Pontiac, with a 3.7% lower mean average was reported out at having a passing rate of 56%, giving the impression to many, that kids in a nearby district with less than four more questions correct in a hundred, may be nearly "twice as smart". Ouch.
We call that White Flight. It's the reason the San Fernando Valley exists.