School Privatizing Premature

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein last week denied the report by Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez that Mayor Bloomberg would make a school privatization initiative a centerpiece of his State of the City address Jan. 17.

Pressed by the Chancellor's Advisory Council, which noted the recent hiring as a Deputy Chancellor of the former president of the for-profit Edison Schools, Mr. Klein, according to the New York Times, insisted, "I will not contract out the management."

One unidentified mayoral aide was more guarded, telling the Times nothing more than that the speech had not been finalized.

Clearly, the Mayor and Mr. Klein are frustrated that more progress has not been made in improving student achievement, particularly in schools where low performance has been chronic. Mr. Bloomberg while running for office in 2001 said during a debate that a Mayor who could not make a substantial turnaround during his first term would not deserve a second one.

Reality has been a bit more complicated for a man who has earned high marks for his stewardship of the city as a whole. There has been improvement in the elementary schools, but middle and high schools have proven more difficult to transform during Mr. Bloomberg's mayoralty.

If the report of a major privatization effort is true, however, we wonder why the Mayor feels compelled to take that step now. The city will receive a significant infusion of state aid - a minimum of $2 billion more, with the possibility that it could be twice that - under Governor Spitzer's first budget. The new money, and the likelihood that the pending contract with school administrators could provide some of the changes Mr. Klein desires in school management, argue strongly against any drastic steps until the results of those developments begin to become evident.

Unless, of course, City Hall has decided that the added funding would make it easier for a privatization initiative to work. Mr. Klein has had testy relations with the United Federation of Teachers despite that union's willingness to have Teachers work extended days and make other changes that gave him greater flexibility in deploying - and dismissing - personnel. Matters have been considerably worse between him and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators: besides a contract stalemate 3-1/2 years after the old deal expired, he has tried to convince Principals that the union is undercutting their interests in favor of the Assistant Principals who make up a majority of the rank and file.

Privatizing some school instructional responsibilities would - if it survives expected court challenges - allow Mr. Klein to bypass the unions. But the past problems that some for-profit education institutions have encountered make clear that it is not sure to improve the school system.

The pitfalls of privatization can be glimpsed in the experience of the Internal Revenue Service since it began using outside debt collection agencies to bring in unpaid taxes, primarily from relatively poor persons who have claimed they cannot afford to meet their obligations.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson last week issued a report stating that in its first few months of operation, the private collection program has been "fatally flawed, risking much for a small return on investment."

The private debt collectors in some instances used questionable practices to get delinquent taxpayers to commit to making payments and did not inform them of their rights until the end of the phone conversations. One collection agency refused to furnish any information to her about the tactics it used. And while the collectors are entitled to keep 25 cents of every dollar they bring in, she noted, IRS staffers produce $13 for every dollar that is spent to employ them.

We believe that at the least Mr. Bloomberg should defer making any major moves toward privatizing management until the impact of the additional state money for the city school system can be gauged.