Free Republic

Spending at least $1.6 million in taxpayer funds on professional artwork instead of building or repairing city schools is raising questions about the school district's spending decisions. Spending bond money on art is not illegal but unusual. School officials in Chicago, Philadelphia and other large cities say they don't spend large sums on art for their schools... Most of the Detroit art was purchased under former schools chief Kenneth Burnley, but the payments continued after William Coleman was named superintendent in July 2005. It's unclear how many art pieces were bought. The money was a sliver of the $1.5 billion...