Huizenga is a major GOP donor who heads a manufacturing concern, Huizenga Industries, a securities firm, West Michigan Equities, and National Heritage Academies (NHA). NHA is seeking to turn a profit on its 20 publicly funded charter schools that promise a back-to-basics moral education. For-profit school companies have flocked to Michigan under Pioneer John Engler because it offers high per-pupil reimbursement rates and does not require charter schools to contribute to the state pension plan. NHA’s morality play has triggered two lawsuits arguing that the company has violated the constitutional separation of church and state by promoting a Christian mother’s prayer group and by teaching creationism science classes. NHA filed its own suit against Detroit suburb Canton Township, which denied NHA a permit to build a 650-student school. The town said the school was too big for the purchased lot and that school traffic would generate excessive traffic. The parties settled the suit in June 2000.