Posted on September 18, 2008 at 2:23 pm by Mike Petrilli
From NRO’s mouth to Governor Granholm’s ears?
I didn’t expect my call for Michigan to declare Detroit Public Schools bankrupt to lead to action so quickly. But it doesn’t sound like the state is willing to go far enough. While it’s true that Michigan took over DPS not so long ago, the state wasn’t willing to make the dramatic moves necessary to changing the dynamics on the ground. Now is its chance to get it right with a true fresh start.
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September 22nd, 2008 at 8:06 am
Must be a closed-head injury somewhere in your past.
Either that or Granholm doesn’t register as high on the national, political Richter scale as she does on the state scale because if you were a trifle more familiar with her governance style you’d know she has no interest in the politically-risky.
She could have stepped in months ago on the Kwame Kilpatrick matter but until there wasn’t any recourse there wasn’t any presence on Governor Granholm’s part. The notion that she’ll try to do something substantive with the DPS, with the various entrenched interests vigorously opposed to anything other then a strings-free, state bailout, would be laughable if it weren’t so predictable and cowardly.
Granholm, if her history is any guide, will try to lead by following. She’ll wait until she has no choice and even then she’ll wait a bit longer just to make sure that there isn’t someone, anyone, with some responsibility in the matter that ought’nt to be deferred too. When all hope of passing the buck is gone she’ll act, if that term is applicable. However much damage is done while she tries to look the other way won’t much matter as long as none of it adheres to her.
The only thing to do with DPS, and Washington D.C. for that matter, is to dissolve the district in an orderly manner and replace it with charters.