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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (3142)	7/4/2003 12:29:51 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793719

The key is, even when he was successful, the Union would get a School Board in that cancels his contracts. That was true in Philadelphia but not in Witchita. At least, that was my impression from the show. It seems that Whittle was so gung-ho for expansion that he couldn't manage to really run his schools well, and keeping it up is the hard part. It's not so hard to get a boost when you bring in a new curriculum and spend oodles of money up front. If nothing else, the teachers and students will improve because of all the attention. But keeping it up, when the teachers say, thanks for the new curriculum, we get it now, why should we keep paying you? and the public schools improve due to competition, that's the hard part. I think Whittle has performed a public service but doesn't have a business model. These super promoters with the reality distortion fields - they always have to watch out that they don't take themselves over the cliff.

To: LindyBill who wrote (3142)	7/4/2003 2:29:50 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793719

I just watched the "Frontline" hour on PBS this week, entitled, "Public Schools Inc." Yep, I happened across it last night and saw about 3/4s of it. Not badly done. The key is, even when he was successful, the Union would get a School Board in that cancels his contracts. You may have seen something I didn't see. I thought the point was that he didn't perform, for whatever reason. I thought Ted Herzl (sp) line near the end, that it's impossible for k-12 enrepeneurs to make a buck, I thought that was meant as the lesson of the film. Certainly looked that was for Wichita. As for the Philly portion, I though the story line by that point was that he had overexpanded but needed yet more expansion to get dollars to drive the stock price up. Some guy from Columbia Teachers College was brought in to make that point as well. It's hard for me to say what the Whittle/Edison lesson is. He definitely had a vision; hard to say whether it was a business plan (and it had to be that because it was private sector reforming public sector and, oh by the way, making a buck.) Certainly, he had the opposition of unions; no surprise there. But it looked as if that opposition was a very minor part of the story. Mainly about Philly and mostly about the failure to get the full 45 schools.

To: LindyBill who wrote (3142)	7/4/2003 7:57:46 PM
From: Bridge Player	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793719

Note: OT OT no politics in this post. LB, are you aware that EDSN has rebounded to $1.64? Are you aware that Whittle, along with other insiders, has told the board that he is interested in making an offer for a LBO to take the company private? Did you notice the little note at the end of the show that confirmed that it will likely be taken private? Are you aware that at least one financial institution has, (reportedly) shown an interest in providing financing? Are you aware that TC2000 shows significant positive money flow into the stock for the last 2 months, since the announcement of buyout interest was made on May 8th? Are you aware that EDSN will likely show a profit of $25 million or so for the 4th quarter (not full year, just 4th quarter) of fiscal year 2003, that just ended on 6/30/2003? Are you aware that there are only about 55 million shares outstanding, and that EDSN has revenues of well over 400 million annually? Are you aware of their revenue growth record since they were founded? Have you visited the EDSN website to check their 10-point program for their schools? Are you aware that their record of improving test scores compares more than favorably with the improvements recorded in publicly operated schools, with an overall school enrollment with 80%+ minority and/or lower-income students? Are you aware that the Chester, PA schools, in the district reported on the program as having the "poorest school district in the state", posted "strong and consistent overall average [SAT] gains from spring 2002 to spring 2003." Are you aware that total shareholder equity was $202 million, or $3.82/share at the end of the 3rd quarter? Are you aware that parents, in the majority of the schools that they operate, are very pro-Edison, according to the company? Did you notice that the show gave NO publicity to the test score improvements that have been shown in the schools that they operate? The teachers unions have been pretty successful in attacking this company and causing the impression in the media that they have failed. Edison needs growth in the number of managed schools in order to make economies of scale work, yet at the moment they have been forced to slow down their growth and consolidate in order to conserve cash. IMO Whittle has not "basically failed". My guess is that an LBO, if it occurs, would come at a price well over $2/share. And if it doesn't occur, and the company continues to operate, I believe they will succeed. Color me biased, and color me naive, but if you are willing to cut a loss quick, I think this stock has absolutely huge upside potential. The stock seems to have made a floor at around 1.50, and my plan as a holder is to bail if it breaks 1.40. Full disclosure: In case you hadn't guessed, I am long a lot of EDSN, some from $1.80, but much more from far lower prices that the stock currently sells for. And I never heard of the company before last October.