Five new schools have been added to a list of buildings the Detroit school district is monitoring for possible consolidation or closure due to challenges like high operating expenses, low enrollment and underutilization.
Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti presented an annual report on the district’s small schools during a school board committee meeting on Wednesday. The report examines the program and operating expenses the 19 schools carry and how they surpass the revenue received through state and federal funding and grants.
The presentation was similar to one he gave last year, outlining potential solutions that include merging schools, stepping up enrollment efforts, reconfiguring grades served and investing in marketing.
The five schools added to the list for the 2025-26 school year include Palmer Park Prep Academy, Pasteur Elementary School, Gardner Elementary School, Chrysler Elementary School and Thurgood Marshall Elementary, which is closing at the end of next school year.
Schools that were previously on the list but were removed include Mark Twain School for Scholars and four schools that closed earlier this month that the district identified for phase out in 2022: Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy, Catherine Blackwell Institute, and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School.
The 18 other schools on this year’s list are not slated to close at this time, Vitti said.
“The schools on this list, all by varying degrees, the district supplements their budget based on the number of students enrolled at the school and the cost of running that school,” he said.
The list of challenged schools and strategies to drive up enrollment is nothing new for DPSCD. The district has experienced a decline in enrollment for more than 20 years. As of May, 49,134 students are enrolled in the district, compared to more than 160,000 students in 2000. The district has 72,000 available seats.
Underutilized schools are also a critical issue in Detroit, given the district must fill in the gaps in revenue for the schools that don’t have enough per-pupil revenue coming in.
For example, Palmer Park Prep’s enrollment for the 2025-26 school year was 359 students and 61% of the building was being utilized. The school brought in $6.4 million in revenue, but had $7.4 million in expenses.
Meanwhile, Pasteur’s enrollment this past school year was 234 students, with an utilization rate of 43%. The school made $4.2 million in revenue, but its expenses were $4.7 million.
Possible solutions to drive up enrollment
Vitti mostly talked about other schools on the list, such as the Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men. The high school served 61 students for the 2025-26 school year, with an utilization rate of 5%. The district is considering bringing middle school back to the building, which would consist of grades six to eight.
“We would use next year to plan for the following fall to start a sixth to eighth grade, so that we build a more consistent, reliable feeder to the high school,” Vitti said.
He also mentioned Davis Aerospace Technical High School, which had 112 students enrolled for the 2025-26 school year. Vitti believes the school’s move back to the Coleman A. Young International Airport in the fall will increase enrollment.
“My recommendation would be that we wait to see about enrollment as it continues to improve,” he said. “After a couple years, if it doesn’t improve, then think about Davis Aerospace being more of a career tech center, where students across the district could access the program like Breithaupt and Randolph, and not running it as a high school, which has higher costs.”
This past school year, the district expanded admission requirements for the DPSCD Virtual School to increase enrollment. The school saw its highest enrollment during the height of the pandemic in the 2021-22 school year, with 1,840 students. As more children began attending school in-person again, enrollment dropped. About 196 students were enrolled for the 2025-26 school year.
Vitti said the district is allowing students under certain circumstances to enroll in the virtual school, like if they’re pregnant or experiencing bullying.
Despite a strong student culture and improving academic achievement, enrollment at the Detroit International School for Young Women (DIA) is not growing, Vitti said. Enrollment decreased at the school for the 2025-26 year, it dropped to 228 students from 246 students in the 2024-25 school year. Vitti wants to transition DIA into a program within a larger high school building and move the nearby Davison Elementary-Middle School into DIA’s current space.
“Davison is a very old building, one that would have to likely be demolished and rebuilt to really bring it back to where it was, and Davison has more students trying to get in, so there’s an opportunity to increase enrollment,” he said.
Board suggests ways to expand marketing efforts
During Vitti’s presentation, board members suggested ways the district’s Office of Communications and Marketing could expand its promotional efforts by better highlighting schools that are on the monitor list. Expanding marketing services has been a topic that has come up in past meetings.
Board member Ida Short suggested that the marketing department highlight unique characteristics of each district school, like DIA.
“I would like to see the marketing department market every single one of our schools, because they’re all unique, they all have specialties, and this one here (DIA) is very special,” she said. “We have families all across Detroit and Metro Detroit who want their daughters to go to an all-female school.”
Board President LaTrice McClendon said the department should look into promoting 10 DPSCD speciality schools to amplify the services they offer.
“I am constantly surprised how much I am in the community and they know Cass, they know King, but didn’t know that David Aerospace was an actual school,” she said. “They thought it was more of a CTE (Career Technical Education school).”
Meanwhile, Vice President Corletta Vaughn and Secretary Monique Bryant suggested that the marketing department promote the district in nearby suburbs like the Grosse Pointes and Roseville. Vaughn also wants to see the department reach out to interest groups like realtors and realtor boards.
Vitti said that he will come back to the board with more information on the 19 schools, including how DPSCD is enhancing programs and marketing them.
“Let me put it all together, so you can see it, review it, and give feedback. Let’s make adjustments, and then that way, at least we can be on the same page with what we’re doing and why.”
Below is a list of the schools on the list, not including those already being phased out:
Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men
- Grades: 9-12
- Enrollment: 61
- Utilization rate: 5%
- Revenue: $1,441,707
- Expenses: $3,050,786
- Cost per student: $50,013
- Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
- Potential solution: Reconsider bringing back sixth, seventh and eighth grades since enrollment dropped when Frederick Douglass turned into a high school. Another option is moving the school within a high school building and operating it as a program within a school.
Davis Aerospace Technical High School at Golightly
- Grades: 9-12
- Enrollment: 112
- Utilization rate: 15%
- Revenue: $1,828,078
- Expenses: $2,963,458
- Cost per student: $26,459
- Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
- Potential solution: Monitor enrollment improvement closely and explore possibility of expanding course offerings to non-Davis students in a CTC model after relocation to City Airport if enrollment does not significantly improve.
DPSCD Virtual School
- Grades: K-12
- Enrollment: 196
- Utilization rate: n/a
- Revenue: $2,248,592
- Expenses: $3,719,368
- Cost per student: $18,976
- Comparison school cost per student: $10,525
- Potential solution: The district has expanded admission requirements to increase enrollment for special student circumstances.
Detroit International Academy for Young Women
- Grades: K-12
- Enrollment: 228
- Utilization rate: 33%
- Revenue: $3,817,804
- Expenses: $4,742,678
- Cost per student: $20,801
- Comparison school cost per student: $10,525
- Potential solution: Explore moving school and transition to a program within a larger high school building. Use the current DIA building (which was renovated) for Davison Elementary-Middle School.
Crockett Midtown High School of Science and Medicine
- Grades: 9-12
- Enrollment: 178
- Utilization rate: 35%
- Revenue: $2,830,968
- Expenses: $3,518,370
- Cost per student: $19,766
- Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
- Potential solution: Consider moving the program to an existing high school building as a program, or moving DIA and the Frederick Douglass Academy to the building.
Palmer Park Prep Academy
- Grades: Pre-K-8
- Enrollment: 359
- Utilization rate: 61%
- Revenue: $6,426,493
- Expenses: $7,486,621
- Cost per student: $20,854
- Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
- Potential solution: The district is adding two additional Montessori classrooms for the 2026-27 school year and expects enrollment to rebound as lower-grade Montessori students matriculate to middle school.
Detroit Lions Academy
- Grades: 6-12
- Enrollment: 388
- Utilization rate: 83%
- Revenue: $6,432,088
- Expenses: $7,582,328
- Cost per student: $19,542
- Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
- Potential solution: “Because the demand and need for alternative education settings are high, and because students at the school need smaller, supportive learning environments, continue to fund at current levels,” the report states.
Osborn High School
- Grades: 9-12
- Enrollment: 392
- Utilization rate: 42%
- Revenue: $5,756,220
- Expenses: $6,819,521
- Cost per student: $17,397
- Comparison school cost per student: $12,691
- Potential solution: Continue to provide prioritized enrollment support with a focus on ninth-grade recruitment. The district may also consider the phase-out of Osborn after the new Pershing building opens.
Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School
- Grades: 1-8
- Enrollment: 178
- Utilization rate: 25%
- Revenue: $3,774,262
- Expenses: $4,187,111
- Cost per student: $23,523
- Comparison school cost per student: $13,705
- Potential solution: School is phasing out and will close at the end of the 2026-27 school year with the new Paul Robeson Malcolm X building opening.
Pasteur Elementary School
- Grades: Pre-K-6
- Enrollment: 234
- Utilization rate: 43%
- Revenue: $4,289,113
- Expenses: $4,736,304
- Cost per student: $20,241
- Comparison school cost per student: $13,705
- Potential solution: Provide school with prioritized enrollment support, including a “Summer on the Block” event for current and potential families with door-to-door canvassing prior to the event in the surrounding communities.
Carstens Academy of Aquatic Science
- Grades: Pre-K-8
- Enrollment: 295
- Utilization rate: 43%
- Revenue: $5,060,494
- Expenses: $5,555,271
- Cost per student: $18,831
- Comparison school cost per student: $13,705
- Potential solution: The school will move into a new facility as part of the district’s facility master plan, which will reduce operating costs and increase enrollment.
Northwestern High School
- Grades: 9-12
- Enrollment: 284
- Utilization rate: 31%
- Revenue: $4,526,557
- Expenses: $5,002,007
- Cost per student: $17,613
- Comparison school cost per student: $12,691
- Potential solution: Consider a smaller and more modern building as a K-12 on the existing campus to emerge with Sampson-Webber Leadership Academy through a new district bond.
Pershing High School
- Grades: 9-12
- Enrollment: 444
- Utilization rate: 22%
- Revenue: $6,367,128
- Expenses: $7,051,324
- Cost per student: $15,881
- Comparison school cost per student: $12,691
- Potential solution: The school’s new building will increase enrollment and will have fewer seats and reduced costs, the report states.
Edison Elementary School (Montessori)
- Grades: Pre-K-5
- Enrollment: 289
- Utilization rate: 88%
- Revenue: $4,925,889
- Expenses: $5,276,909
- Cost per student: $18,259
- Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
- Potential solution: Phasing out of Montessori education will increase seat access to neighborhood students in addition to Pre-K expanding from one classroom to two, with a total of 36 seats, according to the report.
Edmonson Elementary (Montessori)
- Grades: Pre-K-8
- Enrollment: 307
- Utilization rate: 63%
- Revenue: $4,802,073
- Expenses: $5,005,375
- Cost per student: $16,304
- Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
- Potential solution: “As of May 2026, there are 215 new 1st choice applications submitted for Edmonson. Edmonson will be fully funded with 42 additional students,” the report states.
Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy
- Grades: K-8
- Enrollment: 268
- Utilization rate: 74%
- Revenue: $4,541,908
- Expenses: $4,738,660
- Cost per student: $17,682
- Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
- Potential solution: “The school is currently operating out of the former CMA, while a new building is constructed. When the school relocates back to its new building it should return to a balanced funding model,” the report says.
Detroit School of Arts
- Grades: 9-12
- Enrollment: 553
- Utilization rate: 39%
- Revenue: $7,431,525
- Expenses: $7,850,424
- Cost per student: $14,196
- Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
- Potential solution: DPSCD has continued to develop and expand the K-8 performing arts pathway schools, leading to annual increases in enrollment
- at DSA. This will continue with the new K-8 Southwest performing arts school. The school needs to enroll 20 additional students to break even with expenses, the report says.
Gardner Elementary School
- Grades: K-5
- Enrollment: 211
- Utilization rate: 55%
- Revenue: $3,712,772
- Expenses: $3,822,624
- Cost per student: $18,117
- Comparison school cost per student: $13,705
- Potential solution: Provide school with prioritized enrollment support, including a “Summer on the Block” event for current and potential families with door-to-door canvassing prior to the event in the surrounding communities.
Chrysler Elementary School
- Grades: K-5
- Enrollment: 142
- Utilization rate: 76%
- Revenue: $2,535,488
- Expenses: $2,593,725
- Cost per student: $18,266
- Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
- Potential solution: “The small deficit was caused by increases in personnel costs due to teacher salary increases and the adjustment to MPSERS (Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System) reimbursements,” the report states.