New York City is planning to allow nonprofit agencies or private companies to take control over some of its worst-performing public schools and free the city to focus its resources on other schools.
Harold O. Levy, city schools chancellor, is requesting proposals that will help the Board of Education release these schools from state and local regulations and convert them into charter schools in what will be one of the largest privatization efforts in the nation, the New York Times reports.
The plan does not specifically address how many schools -- or which schools -- would be included. Board of Education officials say it will focus on 5 to 7 institutions in 2001, and eventually up to 20 schools.
There are 50 New York City schools -- 40 middle and elementary schools and 10 high schools -- that are struggling. All of them are on the state's "schools under registration review" list due to their poor performance. No board vote will be required to activate the plan, and each board member is said to agree with the decision, the newspaper reports.
"It's clear that new management is needed in these schools, and this is an important first step," Anthony P. Coles, deputy mayor for planning, education and cultural affairs told the Times. Earlier this year, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani set aside $60.8 million of the Board of Education’s $11 billion budget to pay for private management of these poorly-performing schools in the city.
The plan isn't without its opponents. Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, which represents the 78,000 city teachers, says the plan seems like "a political diversion" and that no evidence points to the success of privatizing such schools.
Similar experiments have failed in Baltimore, Md. and Hartford, Conn. where the two cities eventually had to retake control of the schools they privatized. However, there have been cases where limited efforts by private companies managing a few schools have worked, the newspaper reports.
Nonprofits or companies with a demonstrated record of managing schools have until Aug. 18 to submit their privatization plans.
The State Board of Regents will need to approve the conversions.
New York City already has seven charter schools that converted from public institutions, and another eight charter schools that started from scratch since 1998, the Times reports.
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