Who comes up with these ideas?

I've been watching season 4 of the Wire lately, which focuses on the failing school system in Baltimore City. So I was struck by this article about a proposed plan to pay kids to do better on the MSA tests. Because that doesn't at all seem like a plan that will be taken advantage of. Nor, for that matter, does it seem like a poor way to be spending education dollars in a city that is already deeply in debt. Why don't they try actually fixing problems rather than just covering them up?