Dear Mayor Street:
Normally your antics deserve reproach, but your recent stunts in opposition to the privatization of Philadelphia's public schools should absolutely continue. After all, the longer you refuse to seriously negotiate with Gov. Mark Schweiker, the closer the city inches to the Nov. 30 deadline at which time the state will take control of the city's schools.
Once the city's beleaguered schools become the responsibility of the state, the governor can proceed with the implementation of his privatization plan -- a plan you and all Philadelphians should be supporting.
So, Mr. Mayor, stick with your tactics, continue to rebuff Gov. Schweiker and keep defying efforts to turn Philadelphia's schools around. By doing so, you will -- intentionally or not -- help to save hundreds of thousands of children from the dim futures that have long plagued so many city students.
To make those futures bright, the governor has proposed a plan to place Philadelphia's schools under partial private control. Under the bold vision, the city's inept board of education would be abolished and replaced by a five-member education reform commission. The governor would appoint four of the commissioners, and the mayor would appoint one.
The district's central management -- too long concerned with maintaining its excessive art deco headquarters at the expense of education reform -- would also be restructured. All of the district's 50 or so top managerial jobs would be up for re-evaluation, with some current managers likely remaining, some officials recruited from throughout the nation and other candidates brought in from Edison Schools Inc., the corporation that would likely run the district.
Edison, which conducted the revolutionary report leading to the governor's proposal, would be responsible for district-wide improvements, from major curriculum reforms and new textbook purchases to fresh coats of paint and a renewed emphasis on learning.
In achieving that goal, Philadelphia's 264 schools would be divided into three tiers, with the worst-performing 60 schools put under the direct control of Edison in conjunction with local community groups and universities. The city's top 30 or 40 schools would be monitored but largely left alone, while the remaining schools would undergo comprehensive educational reforms.
Mayor Street, such reforms could not come soon enough. Just consider these sobering realities. Of the children who enter the district in first grade, 50 percent will drop out before graduating.
Of those who make it to their junior year in high school, only 13 percent can read a newspaper with basic comprehension, the governor has sadly said. Equally alarming, more than half of the district's students are failing reading and math.
Change is desperately needed. Mr. Mayor, you made education reform one of your top campaign promises. Here's your chance. Stop calling Philadelphia's educational future "fantasyland," and start thinking outside the box.
The blind assumption that a for-profit corporation is incompatible with public services simply lacks legitimate support. That is an outdated argument that has long been rejected.
Former Mayor Ed Rendell himself privatized more than a dozen city functions in the early 1990s, saving the city $35 million a year and putting services in the hands of companies skilled to handle them. In Indianapolis, one of the most celebrated examples of privatization, former Mayor Stephen Goldsmith saved the city hundreds of millions of dollars while creating record numbers of jobs and new construction.
Edison, moreover, has a solid track record of educational management. The nation's largest private manager of public schools, it currently operates 136 public schools with 75,000 students in 22 states.
In the business since 1992, Edison reports that 84 percent of its schools have shown significant educational gains. On average, students in its schools are gaining more than 5 percentile points per year on national standardized tests. And in the 2000-2001 school year, Edison reduced failure rates an average of 9 percentile points per school.
Unlike the status quo, moreover, Edison vows to return the district to financial stability. With a $1.7 billion budget, the district is facing a $177 million deficit this year and a projected $1.5 billion deficit by 2006.
Under the governor's proposal, an additional $150 million would be provided to the district while Edison undertakes cost-cutting measures expected to save the city $225 million a year by 2004-05.
Naysayers who attack the concept of a for-profit corporation running a school district might want to keep those figures in mind. Had the Philadelphia school district been more conscious of the bottom line, perhaps the city would not find itself in such a dire crisis.
The claim that a private corporation would lack accountability is equally naive. Edison, after all, would report to the education reform commission, a public body appointed by the governor and mayor. Do not forget also, Mr. Mayor, that the Philadelphia Board of Education has hardly been a pillar of accountability.
The time has come for 21st century thinking. Are risks involved? Of course. In any major reform, risks exist.
But the futures of Philadelphia's children have already been jeopardized for too long. The governor's plan is the best hope for eliminating that jeopardy -- and for instilling a sense of pride and accomplishment in Philadelphia's children. Mark Fiore is a third-year Law School student and a 1999 College graduate from Spring Park, Minn.
