It's tempting to get excited about Robert Bobb's new short-term solution for the financial and academic woes of Detroit Public Schools. But there are significant drawbacks to the proposal from the DPS emergency financial manager.

Rather than shutter scores more buildings and stuff more kids into fewer classrooms, Bobb now suggests turning 41 schools into charters. This, he says, would save money and infuse the system with new, innovative educational energy.

In theory. On paper. Maybe.

But it is a short-term fix as opposed to a long-term strategy for the future of public education in Detroit -- a future that depends on leadership after Bobb. And that leadership has yet to emerge.


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