Roy Roberts. (Photo: Patricia Beck/Landov)

Who knows what will end the educational crisis in the city of Detroit, but officials are trying to find a solution. On Monday, Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder announced that the worst of Detroit Public Schools—which Education Secretary Arne Duncan calls the “bottom of the barrel”—will no longer be under the control of the city.

In the fall of 2012 around 45 schools could be moved to a new system in which principals and staff would have more control over spending, hiring and improvement efforts. The governor is hoping that more money will flow directly into the schools since layers of management will be eliminated. Eastern Michigan University will train the new teachers and the schools will be overseen by a private group headed by the state’s appointed emergency financial manager, Roy Roberts.

"The system is broke and I can't fix it, and you can't fix it," Roberts, who’s in charge of the $327 million budget deficit, said at a news conference.

Currently one-in-five students drops out each year and enrollment has dropped from 104,000 in 2007 to 74,000 this year.

Yesterday, the College Board announced that high school male graduates of color between the ages of 15 and 24 will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead. Let’s hope that Detroit’s new plan helps to reverse these statistics.