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Fed up with the poor performing schools in Oakland, CA, and Detroit, MI, state legislatures recently proposed bills that turn the reigns of the beleaguered districts to the city’s mayor. Their impetus are the district’s annual poor performance and the start of Chicago’s 1995 mayoral take over that is beginning to restore the instruction of basic skills in a district long plagued by high failure rates.
And in New York, Mayor Rudy and Chancellor Rudy go head to head on school choice.
First, the Chicago story. In 1995 the school system was failing academically and fiscally. About 75 percent of students were scoring below the national average on standardized math and reading exams, and the system was near bankruptcy; but it has begun to turn around over the last two years. From 1995-1998, test scores rose in every category , at every grade level. The attendance rate is dramatically higher and the system’s budget is balanced. Serving 433,000 students in 569 schools, most who live below the poverty level, this is no small achievement.
The changes are occurring because legislators created a decentralized and accountable public school environment. In 1988 legislators passed the Chicago School Reform Act that provided schools with autonomy and local control, but CPS lacked a clear understanding of the division of responsibilities in the new system; and there was still little school accountability.
In 1995, Illinois State legislators passed another Chicago school reform bill. Legislators handed control to Mayor Richard M. Daley who appointed a corporate style management team headed by Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas. The reform efforts encompassed four major components: 1) Academic accountability driven by real consequences; 2) Encouraging back to basics instruction; 3) Continued local flexibility; and 4) Central office support to advocate and assist reform. The keys elements include rewarding successful educators and weeding out ineffective ones, expanding academic opportunities for the students, and implementing policies that enforce student learning such as intensive summer school and the abolition of social promotion. The changes provided needed accountability and central office support.
Inspired by the Chicago progress, Michigan and California lawmakers have proposed bills to turn the reigns of the Detroit and Oakland districts to the city’s mayors.
Michigan lawmakers are working on a plan to dissolve the Detroit school board and transfer power to Mayor Dennis W. Archer. "Time and again, I was told -- butt out, send more money, wait until we implement our new plan, just give us a little more time," said Governor Engler. "The bottom line … [is that] year after year, class after class, children denied access to the quality education they deserve," and Mayor Archer is ready to take control. "If they give me this bull charging down the way from Lansing, then I'm going to take it by the horns and we're going to have some changes."
There is public support for the bill. A February survey by the Detroit Free Press found 54% of city residents in favor of mayoral control of the schools and 32% opposed to it. Seventy percent of those polled indicated that they had little or no confidence in the elected school board's ability to improve schools.
In late February, State Sen. Don Perata introduced a bill to give Oakland Mayor Ron Brown the authority to choose an administrator to oversee the city's 54,000 student school system. As can be expected, those with acting control do not favor the idea. The board voted 6-0 for a resolution denouncing the idea of a mayorally appointed administrator.
While the activity in Michigan and California is important, the clash in the Big Apple is also important, and like a New York-based soap-opera. This January New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani recommended selecting one of the city's 33 school districts for a public scholarship program modeled on the Milwaukee program that serves 6,200 students to attend public and private schools. The Mayor has set aside $12 million so that poor families can have the same choices in education as wealth families and to introduce competition to the public schools. Despite a relationship with the Mayor characterized as strong, this reform notion upsets the very alliances Crew has worked hard to create with system administrators and the union.
Whatever the outcomes of these three potential experiments in rejuvenating public schools, such an open debate is needed, and the civic leaders encouraged to take the reigns of accountability from a system in disrepair.
March 1999
RESOURCES:
Proposed legislation:
Chicago Public Schools:
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Dave De Schryver is Senior Policy Analyst for The Center for Education Reform, an independent, non-profit group providing support to individuals seeking school reform. For more information, please call (202) 822-9000 or (800) 521-2118, or send e-mail to cer@edreform.com.
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