HPS District forced to seek new state payment

HPS Interim Superintendent James Larson-Shidler

By Charles Sercombe
Financial woes continue to haunt the Hamtramck Public School district.
Two weeks ago, the district applied for an immediate $15.5 million loan to cover a shortfall of cash on hand.
And now, one week later, the district held a special Board of Education meeting to apply for a $13 million advance on state payments to pay its bills and payroll.
So what happened to the $15.5 million loan request?
Interim Superintendent James Larson-Shidler told The Review that state officials rejected the request because the district does not qualify for the loan.
Instead, the district was directed to seek an advance on state payments. Larson-Shidler said the district was first required to “formally pursue and be denied a State Aid Note (SAN) before applying for an advance.”
He said the district is seeking a $13.3 million advance payment.
The district’s financial problem stems from it being unable to submit a mandatory financial audit to the state by a Nov. 1 deadline.
The district has not met that Nov. 1 deadline for the third year in a row. Larson-Shidler was appointed as interim superintendent in May of 2024. He had been, and continues to be, finance director for the district prior to that appointment.
Larson-Shidler revealed two weeks ago that, without the money, the district would not be able to pay its bills, including its payroll.
Larson-Shidler was grilled by Boardmember Linda Wolyniec about the sudden financial crisis.
“We are in a situation that just seems to have popped up from nowhere,” Wolyniec said.
She continued: ‘I feel like the priorities here, there is something wrong and I’m really struggling with being very angry over this. … A competent financial officer would have some projection that would tell us, perhaps in December or January, that we are running out of money, and we’re to be insolvent. But did we hear that? No. … I guess it’s supposed to be some kind of magic that we’re going to know.”
Larson-Shidler said he is working with the state to fine-tune the district’s financial audit, and that it will take four to six weeks to complete.
He expects the state to advance payments sometime in April. It was not made clear if all bills and payroll will be able to be paid until then.
Questioned whether there is a chance the state will reject the district’s request, Larson-Shidler assured the board that, in order for that to happen, the audit would have to reveal “millions of dollars in misstatements.”
That explanation didn’t sit well with Wolyniec.
“Surprising us with this is very disturbing,” she said.
Posted Feb. 29, 2026