Warren Schools Sue Hazel Park Schools Over Claims of Student Poaching

In 2008, Hazel Park Schools worked with a nonprofit to create an alternative education program and had it approved by the Michigan Department of Education. The program was designed to attract families who did not speak English as a first language — specifically, Chaldean families who were hesitant to enroll in the traditional public school system.

The program has trigged a 10-year legal tug-of-war between Hazel Park Schools and Warren Consolidated Schools over who has the rights to the taxpayer dollars that are designated for each child who resides within a school district’s boundaries.

Each public school student was worth $9,336 to Warren Consolidated Schools in 2020-21, something for which the Macomb County school district is willing to go to court over.

That $9,336 is called the “foundation allowance,” and it’s the one bucket of money that follows students to whatever school district they enroll in.

In 2011, Warren Consolidated Schools sued Hazel Park Schools, seeking monetary damages. Warren Consolidated Schools asserted that Hazel Park Schools lured students to the program “without obtaining plaintiff’s permission … thereby wrongfully depriving plaintiff of students within its own district.”

The two school districts have been involved in a legal battle since. The fight has included three separate lawsuits filed in circuit court and filings with an administrative office at the Michigan Department of Education. In each instance, the decisions have gone in favor of the Hazel Park Schools.

The court of appeals was the most recent to rule on the matter, and it sent the case back to the circuit court to be heard.