Why, one might ask, would there be "legislative bickering" over a proposal to spend $200 million building 15 charter schools? Well, let's look at this the other way: why didn't philanthropist Bob Thompson donate $200 million to the Detroit area school boards to spend where it was most needed? It's one thing to be generous; it's quite another to use your wealth to circumvent the normal process of having voters decide priorities and having experts identify solutions. There is no doubt that Thompson's heart is in the right place, but being wealthy does not suddenly give you unique insight into educational policy (and this is the problem with 'social policy by charity' in general).
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