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This isn't the kind of problem most school chiefs in the U.S. have to worry about. A year ago, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm gave Bobb, the former president of Washington, D.C.'s Board of Education, the task of ending the financial crisis that has devastated the Detroit public-school system. In the past decade, the number of Detroit public-school students has plummeted from more than 167,000 to 84,600, mainly because of the emergence of charter schools and the middle class's exodus to the suburbs. It could fall further, to 65,000 in the next four...
...Denial was a problem too. Shortly before Bobb took over, Detroit's school board okayed a budget that it claimed had an $8 million surplus. Bobb's assessment showed a budget deficit of $303.5 million. He's since reduced the deficit partly by trimming the system's job rolls from about 14,000 to about 13,000. He's closed 29 of the district's 194 schools and hired outside firms to restructure 17 others. And in what may be his most inspired move, Bobb has asked some 2,600 volunteers to donate 360,000 hours to helping kids read...
...city-management jobs in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Oakland, Calif. In 2003, Washington's then mayor, Anthony A. Williams, hired Bobb as city manager and deputy mayor; he managed an $8 billion annual budget and some 20,000 employees. Three years later, he was elected president of D.C.'s board of education. After that experience, why would anyone want to take on the task of saving Detroit's public schools? "I wanted to go to an urban school district, the roughest and the toughest. Why? Because I understand the dynamics, the grit, the opportunities that are prevalent in urban America...
...eighth-graders who perform at grade level in math and reading. By 2015, he wants 90% of all students to complete at least one Advanced Placement course before graduating. "Those are very ambitious goals," he admits. And ultimately they may be hindered by politics: Detroit's elected school board charges he is overstepping his financial portfolio and must relinquish control of academic affairs to the acting superintendent...
...like most card issuers) has chartered its credit-card division. But Republicans haven't shown much inclination to cast votes to help Obama get anything done. And even if there were still 60 Democrats in the Senate, the health care saga demonstrated the difficulty of keeping them all on board without watering down the legislation, infuriating the party's base and ultimately disgusting the electorate through extended exposure to the sausagemaking process. The only plausible road to financial reform is for it to become so popular that even Republicans are afraid to obstruct...