Detroit’s government schools offer free shoes if kids show up for class
Detroit’s failing government school system continues to illustrate the failures of central planning.
This time they’re forced to bribe students to show up for school by offering them free black leather Nikes on the day students are counted to calculate the amount of government funding the school gets.
CBS 62 in Detroit reports a local shoe dealer “made an arrangement with the school district to give away a free pair of black leather Nikes to every student who comes to class on Oct. 3, the day when students are counted and their numbers used as the basis for per-pupil funding from the state and federal government.”
“The school district will hand out vouchers to every child in every grade, which could add up to 14,000 to 17,000 pair of shoes.”
Predictably, the charter and private schools who serve the same student population, but aren’t tightly controlled by unions and bureaucrats don’t have to offer free shoes to get student to show up for class. They also don’t have the same plunging test scores or rising in-school crime rates.
