City of Philadelphia - File #: 010531

• File #: 010531
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 9/6/2001
• In control: Committee on Education
• Title: Authorizing City Council's Committee on Education to hold public hearings to investigate whether Edison Schools, Inc., or other privatization efforts, can resolve the financial and education crisis facing the Philadelphia Public Schools and to propose viable recommendations to the City and State Administration that will advance our mandate that we provide quality public education while exploring policies to address the school district's structural deficit and future resource needs.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Mariano, Councilmember Longstreth, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Blackwell, Council President Verna, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Krajewski
• Indexes: PRIVATIZATION, SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
9/24/2001	0	Committee on Education	HEARING HELD
9/24/2001	0	Committee on Education	RECESSED
9/20/2001	0	Committee on Education	HEARING NOTICES SENT
9/20/2001	0	Committee on Education	HEARING HELD
9/20/2001	0	Committee on Education	RECESSED
9/6/2001	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED & REFERRED
9/6/2001	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass

Title
Authorizing City Council's Committee on Education to hold public hearings to investigate whether Edison Schools, Inc., or other privatization efforts, can resolve the financial and education crisis facing the Philadelphia Public Schools and to propose viable recommendations to the City and State Administration that will advance our mandate that we provide quality public education while exploring policies to address the school district's structural deficit and future resource needs.
Body
WHEREAS, The fiscal situation of the Philadelphia School District has reached crisis proportions. This crisis, if left unsolved, in both the short and long term, jeopardizes the future of the more than 210,000 public school children; and

WHEREAS, Edison Schools Inc., the largest for-profit operator of public schools, has been hired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to do a two month, $2.7 million evaluation of the School District of Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, The evaluation may result in a privatized takeover or breakup of the School District, with Edison as the likely entity to manage some or all of the City's schools; and

WHEREAS, Preliminary assessments of Edison's track record in the schools reveal mixed reviews of Edison's performance, with some of its schools showing no academic progress and others showing varying degrees of change. Additionally, many of Edison's educational innovations, such as smaller class size, are not unique to Edison and are well established standards for quality education that have been implemented in several of Philadelphia's finest public schools; and

WHEREAS, News reports have indicated that, while in some schools parents are satisfied with Edison schools, in others, presents have complained that Edison drains the schools of resources and "push out the hardest-to-educate students"; and

WHEREAS, Edison schools have been involved in reported legal disputes including the termination of their contracts in numerous cities th...