Detroit school savings eyed for after-school programs

Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.Mayor Mary Sheffield wants the Detroit Public Schools Community District to use the money it previously spent on city bus passes to expand after-school programs.But the money freed up in March when Sheffield made bus fare free for all Detroit students would only allow the district to add high-quality after-school programs at three pre-kindergarten through eighth grade schools, administrators said this week.The mayor’s Ride to Rise program will save roughly $700,000 for DPSCD, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the district’s April board meeting. It would cost $200,000 annually at each school to run programs serving around 120 students, five days a week, with a ratio of 15 kids to one staff member, Vitti said during a board committee meeting Wednesday. The last time DPSCD explored the idea of paying for after-school programming at each of its K-8 schools wa