"I've talked to governors and mayors who say 'Come on. We want your help,'" Thompson said during a recent luncheon meeting of the Detroit Economic Club at Cobo Center in the city. Early last year, Thompson came up with a plan whereby he would spend about $200 million to build a string of 15 charter high schools in the City of Detroit. When controversy arose over how that money would be spent and who would have control of those schools, Thompson withdrew his offer and said he was taking a year off before making any more decisions. That was in October.
Thompson of Plymouth rose from humble beginnings and made millions running a road construction company. He made headlines in 1999 when he sold the company and gave more than $100 million to the employees. He also established a charitable foundation, which he now runs, that he funded with more than $200 million.
Thompson, who received three standing ovations from the 1,300 who attended the luncheon, said his heart is in Detroit, but that "we need to go where the public and civic leaders will support us." Thompson also said that could include metro-area suburbs, but that he is not interested in going where there are strong existing school systems and competing against them.
Throughout his comments, and in a short question and answer session attended by GlobeSt.com that followed, Thompson stressed his belief in education. He said attending Bowling Green State University in Ohio--after growing up on a southern Michigan farm--gave him the education and experience he needed to take on the world. Since the start of his foundation, Thompson has supported the creation of one charter high school in the city, established a scholarship fund for dozens of Detroit public high school graduates to attend Bowling Green and given millions directly to Detroit Public Schools.
Thompson said that he believes the head of the Detroit teachers union, the mayor, governor and others all are interested in improving education."For nine months I worked with leaders in Lansing and Detroit. I didn't do a good enough job. We were simply trying to help children," Thompson said.
Thompson said his wife, Ellen, is a supporter of the Salvation Army and that if something happened to him, she would probably donate most of the money to that organization. "The irony is," he said, "without a good, solid education today, many of these young people will have to turn to the services of the Salvation Army tomorrow."
As part of Thompson's offer of the $200 million, he wanted to require school operators to graduate at least 90% of enrolled students and to send 90% of those to college. If those conditions were not met, the school's operators would be replaced. His conditions set off controversy over who would have control of the schools and how the funding of those schools would affect the existing Detroit Public School system.
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