Philadelphia's public schools await report on privatization

When Edison Schools Inc. presents its report on the ailing Philadelphia School District to Gov. Tom Ridge next week, the company will likely recommend that it be allowed to take over at least some of the district's operations.

Edison, a for-profit education company, was hired by Ridge to develop an analysis of the city school system, which currently has a budget deficit of $216 million. After the report is presented to Ridge on Sept. 29, the state and city will have one month to reach an agreement on the fate of the school system.

If no agreement is reached by Oct. 29, the state will take over the system.

John Hawkins, legislative aid to City Councilman James Kenney, said that Edison will most likely want to be a part of the solution.

"Despite the fact that the media has portrayed it as an analysis, when you meet with [Edison] they'll tell you that they're doing an analysis of how they would run the schools," Hawkins said.

But as the deadlines approach, several questions about whether Edison should play a role in the solution are arising. According to Henry Levin, director of Columbia University's National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, the company may meet with hostility.

"I think that the hostility comes from a number of sources," Levin said. One group says "if we can provide profit to these private firms, why can't that be put into education?"

Another source of concern is the cost of special education, which makes up a major portion of the budget of city schools.

"Special education affects about 12 percent of students nationally, and in your major cities that accounts for about 30 percent of the expenditure," Levin said.

In the past, for-profit firms have not done well in handling students with special needs. Levin said that Educational Alternatives Inc., which played a role in Baltimore schools in the 1990s, resorted to hiring part-time college students to teach special education students in order to save money.

Because of this history, Levin said many are concerned that company-run schools will turn away special-needs students.

Some think "these kinds of endeavors will begin to look a lot more like a private schooling system," Levin said. "In many cases, these firms are given so-called choice schools.... A second concern is about cream-skimming, segregation, all that kind of stuff."

Susan Fuhrman, dean of Penn's Graduate School of Education, said that teacher reaction to privatization would be mixed.

"It depends on the conditions under which they take over," Fuhrman said. "I think [feelings are] probably very varied and mixed. I think people are probably `wait and see.'"

And although Fuhrman would not speculate about how Edison would handle special needs students, she noted that "special education is enormously expensive."

In addition, concerns about Edison's financial solvency may come into play. Although the firm has said that it will be profitable by 2002, it lost $38.1 million in Fiscal Year 2001.

Levin said that such companies have historically had financial problems.

"Almost every firm in the industry has bled tremendously," Levin said. Critics say "that we don't have the experience yet of seeing success by these private entities."

But Edison officials were quick to allay these fears, especially with regards to its financial situation. Edison spokesman Adam Tucker said that the firm is seeing its financial situation improve, especially as its business continues to grow.

"We're moving towards profitability every year," Tucker said. "We also know that as our business grows, we will be profitable."

Tucker also dismissed concerns about Edison's commitment to special needs students, saying that the company values the education of all students.

"Responsible inclusion is the way we think about special education," Tucker said. "We believe in bringing all kinds of support services to kids."

However, Tucker said he understood that some teachers would be hostile to the idea of a private takeover, but this would change as Edison's commitment to teachers became apparent.

"There has been hostility, and in the best case scenarios there have been lots of questions," Tucker said. "We are about supporting teachers so that they can do the job they want to do [which is] to focus on learning."

But such debates will be moot if Edison is not made a part of the solution to the woes of Philadelphia public schools. Philadelphia Education Secretary Deborah Kahn denied that the city was definitely seeking to include Edison in their long-term plans.

"Despite what the public has tried to make it, we're not in the business of trying to buy Edison, or vice versa," Kahn said.

Members of the City Council are not convinced of this, however, and yesterday unanimously approved a ballot question proposed by Councilman Michael Nutter that would allow the citizens of Philadelphia to vote directly on whether or not to privatize.

"I think that [the council agreed] with the general view that the public, taxpayers and voters should have a voice in this matter," Nutter said.

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