Neither, of course, does closing your eyes to a problem and simply wishing it would go away.  Not that you'd be able to tell based on the way the Detroit Public Schools has approached their own trials and tribulations this year.  All of that too, comes to a head on July 1st when a new, balanced budget is required by law.  The Ivory Tower reports:

(Superintendent Connie) Calloway also has been criticized by detractors for waiting until this month to address what became a $400-million hole in the budget and for not delivering a detailed blueprint for fixing the district's finances and improving student achievement.

The district must approve a new budget today or shut down until a deal is reached, school officials said...

Caught in the middle is a district that could face a deluge of charter schools if the student population dips below 100,000 this fall, as projected.

How can you not love the FREEP the way they sneak that little dig into their news coverage.  Uh-oh, look out for charter schools!  In a city with the lowest graduation rate in the nation the last thing we need is educational choice and an actual, legitimate opportunity for success!  But I digress.

Four-hundred-million dollars in one district.  The same district that revealed last week they had bushels of teachers on the payroll who they'd somehow forgotten about, failing to account for them in any budget discussions.

While Detroit's problem is certainly the biggest it is not a challenge entirely unique to the D.  The Detroit News has an extended discussion of South East area school districts facing a cash crunch as they wrap up their final budgets for the new school year.  And all of the problems despite an extra $72 per kid, promised last week by their friends in Lansing.  The News article reads like a laundry list of problems and "painful" cuts expected to destroy the future of education and create a society of illiterate simpletons.  Interestingly enough it looks like many of the districts they cover are doing everything they can to keep millions in the bank in what they call "rainy day funds."  This is per-pupil state cash they've somehow managed to bury away while conjuring up extra crocodile tears the next time the appropriations budget begins.

An extra shame when one considers what other districts are having to do this week just to keep from shutting down.

Some districts have avoided cuts -- or kept from going into deficit -- by cutting staff salaries and benefits, or privatizing food service, transportation or custodial services. Pontiac has outsourced its buses, and food service and operations are administered by third-party providers.

The Northville Board of Education last week approved a three-year contract with custodians and other service workers that includes a 2 percent reduction in the wage schedule and a "salary step" freeze for the three years. Beginning in 2009, new employees will start with wages 22 percent below the scale of current employees, and all employees will pay more for their health insurance. The district will save $1.2 million over the life of the contract.

Rough life, that of the taxpayer funded public school administrator.  Having to consider things like, gasp, finding better prices on food services and janitors.  I don't know how they do it.  But I hope they have one heck of a good time this Friday... the private sector custodians and food service providers accepting this new business at market prices will.