In the 10 years since the water crisis poisoned Flint families, the city’s school district has suffered.
Students left in droves. Graduation rates have plunged. Reading scores have fallen. And buildings have sat vacant.
Officials blame many of the district’s challenges, particularly declining enrollment and a larger proportion of special education needs, in part to the water crisis, which spun the city and residents into an ongoing nightmare. Leaders, too, have also credited more than a decade of inadequate state funding for pushing Flint’s schools into a downward spiral. And through all that, charter schools drew away more and more students: 14 charters in Genesee County, 11 of those in Flint, serving more than 5,000 students, according to state data.
.
