Detroit (WWJ) -- Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Connie Calloway was a no-show at a news conference Friday morning.
WWJ's Florence Walton was among those on hand on the 10th Floor of the Fisher Building in Detroit expecting to hear an announcement that the district was facing a projected shortfall of $45 million.
In the past, when DPS faced far greater financial challenges, the superintendent of schools has always made the announcement and weathered the resulting storm of questions, but not Dr. Calloway.
Instead, she handed that responsibility off to chief financial officer Joan McCray. "I'm sure that the superintendent has full confidence in the capability of the staff that are present, myself as well as the representation of the board and the message is still present and being delivered and we are being financially transparent," McCray said.
McCray would not say where Calloway was and members of her staff tried to stop any further questions about her absence.
The school district commissioned the audit that uncovered the shortfall, which the district blames on unbudgeted expenditures from the previous administration. McCray did say that DPS is working with the state of Michigan, and issued the following written statement:
"As Dr. Calloway has reported on numerous occasions, this administration inherited the District's FY 2007 - 2008 adopted budget and has uncovered a number of major expenditures that were not budgeted. Including this fallout account, we believe these unfunded expenditures exceed $102 million."
The statement named items such as "a $25 million reduction of state aid based on a revised enrollment projection," "expenditures of over $16 for unbudgeted costs related to the previous year''s school closures and consolidations," and a "penalty of $5 million related to the non-compliant operation of Last Chance schools."
The district also clarified that the expected shortfall was $30 million-$60 million for the 2007-08 fiscal year.
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