A study funded by 10 major foundations reported yesterday that 47 percent of Detroiters are functionally illiterate–unable to read a bus schedule, fill out a resume, or make sense of the directions on an aspirin bottle.

When I checked back in 2008, Detroit public schools were spending $13,000 / pupil, which was then above the national average.

The report notes that half of the illiterate population has either a high school diploma or a GED. That’s beside the point. Virtually the entire illiterate population has completed elementary school, the level at which reading is theoretically taught. That’s seven years of schooling (k‑6), at a cost of roughly $100,000, for… nothing.

The study mainly calls for adult education services to remediate the problem after it has occurred. Perhaps when the city’s illiteracy rate reaches 100 percent the recommendations will suggest replacing the failed k‑12 monopoly with something more effective. Of course, by then who’ll be able to read them?