Detroit to CLOSE 45 SCHOOLS?!

<p>Robert Bobb warned of cutting 2,100 positions and outsourcing more jobs. He said DPS's deficit is projected to grow to $316.6 million. (Bryan Mitchell / Special to The Detroit News)</p><p>Detroit -- Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb revealed his vision for a leaner Detroit Public Schools on Monday night by closing 45 schools this year and building new athletic facilities, a new campus for special needs students and reviving a closed high school site.</p><p>This rebuilding, he said, will require another bond measure beyond the $500 million voters approved in November to remodel and build 18 schools.</p><p>Voters would have to approve an estimated $700 million more in bonds, district officials later confirmed, and could mean a new Bates Academy, a new swimming and diving complex at Renaissance High School, a new athletic complex at Cass Technological High School, a new campus for special needs students and the reopening of a Pre-K-14 campus at the site of the former MacKenzie High School.</p><p>All this is against a backdrop of projections of a steep drop in DPS enrollment, from 85,000 this year to 56,503 by 2014.</p>