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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (206247)	12/1/2001 2:27:15 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

J.F. I find it amazing this story has not been reported (that I know of) in the mainstream news. Philadelphia is about to turn over their entire school system to a private organization. The Edison School. Notice the biased slant by the N.Y. Times in this article. What victory! The headline should have read...." Governor's bold initiative to save the minds of thousands of Philadelphia children has been put on hold while he wrestles with special interest groups who care more about the Teachers Union then children's education" Governor Puts Philadelphia School Plan on Hold By JACQUES STEINBERG December 1, 2001 Tim Shaffer for The New York Times Mayor John F. Street of Philadelphia, right, listened as Gov. Mark S. Schweiker of Pennsylvania said he would delay a school takeover plan. PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 30 — Only hours before he was to take control of this city's troubled public school system, Gov. Mark S. Schweiker agreed tonight to put off such plans for at least three weeks while he and Mayor John F. Street try to negotiate a compromise. At least in the short term, the governor's announcement here represented a victory for parents, students, teachers, community leaders and others who have bitterly opposed his plans, which were to have taken effect at midnight and would have been the largest state takeover of a public school system in the nation's history. "I am ecstatic," said Darlene Battle, the mother of a sophomore at a Philadelphia high school and a vice president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn. "One of the things that we've been fighting for is for everyone to come together and work on something that will satisfy everyone." Citing low test scores and a $200 million deficit in the system's nearly $2 billion budget, the governor said a month ago that he would assume responsibility for the city's 264 public schools. He said he expected to entrust the system to a new state panel of overseers that he would control and that would give management of at least 45 schools to a private company, most likely Edison Schools. It is the prospective involvement of Edison — which says it operates more than 130 public schools in 22 states — that has drawn the fiercest opposition here, particularly from parents and unions that represent teachers and other school workers. In part, they fear that they would lose some measure of control if public education is ceded to the private sector. Earlier this month, Mayor Street, who appoints the school board and has been one of Edison's harshest critics, prevailed upon the governor to drop a proposal that would have directed Edison to fill the top 55 administrative jobs in the system. Tonight, Mr. Street, a Democrat, stood alongside Mr. Schweiker, a Republican, as the governor retreated again, albeit temporarily. Mr. Schweiker said that he had given the system a reprieve because he and Mr. Street had yet to resolve whether the city or state, or some combination, would be responsible for addressing the system's financial needs. "It's going to take some time," Mr. Schweiker said. But asked if they had been able to agree on anything else, including the scope of Edison's involvement, the two officials said that they had not. "We will only do this once," Mr. Street said. "We want to make sure we get it right."