Using Private Educators
DOE Pays $18M for Support

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The Department of Education will pay private organizations more than $18 million over the next three years to provide public schools with support services.

ERNEST LOGAN: Need accountability.

Mayor Bloomberg's school reorganization allowed Principals last month to choose among an array of options to replace the support functions previously carried out by the 10 regional offices that will be dismantled by July. The two biggest winners were New Visions for Public Schools, which will contract with 63 schools at a cost of $2.4 million per year, and the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association, which will work with 53 schools at a cost of $2.3 million per year. The payments to some of the groups may rise due to rates that change depending upon the group's capacity. All five private groups are nonprofits.

'Lack of Transparency'

"The issue of public funds being funneled to private organizations is a concern of CSA," said Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernest Logan in an e-mail. "The Department of Education has typically relied on the services of private companies to perform a number of services. However, it is the lack of transparency that has concerned us."

ARTHUR CHELIOTES: Just shifting bodies.

Most schools chose organizations that will be staffed and managed by civil servants, but 144 schools will be partnering with the private groups. Another 13 will be working with a center at the City University of New York. The remaining 1,231 opted to remain within the DOE system. Schools were given an average of $170,000 to spend on their choice of support organizations.

Mr. Logan said that he hoped the new structure would make a "positive difference" in student achievement, but was cautious about the accountability measures. "There must be checks and balances in place to ensure these organizations are held accountable when using public funds," said Mr. Logan. "We will be following how these new structures roll out to make sure Principals and [Assistant Principals] are getting the support and resources they need."

The education advocacy group New Visions has worked in the city since 1989 and is a proponent of small schools. It is charging its schools between $36,616 and $62,773 annually depending upon their size.

Employing Ex-Principals

CEI-PEA is also city-based with a history of working with public schools and is a leading proponent of charter schools. CEI-PEA employees promised at a borough fair in April that all of its on-site school consultants would be former city Principals. It will charge schools between $36,051 and $66,879 each for its services.

About 2,000 employees will lose their jobs when the regions close, but many are finding positions in the city-managed structures. About 700 Education Administrators who are members of CSA are currently working in regional offices, and the union has worked out a deal with the city to preserve 600 of those positions in the new set-up.

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein secured a waiver from the city Conflicts of Interest Board that will allow former city employees to work for the private groups that have contracted with the city for school support services. Normally, city law bars city employees from working for a group that does business with their former employer for one year after leaving their city job.

CWA Skeptical

About 300 members of Local 1180 of the Communication Workers of America hold jobs in the regional offices, and the union is working to have them placed within the new structure at comparable salaries and titles. But officials object to what they see as privatization of public-sector jobs.

"It makes it look like the head count for DOE has been reduced," said Local 1180 President Arthur Cheliotes, "but the total number of people can increase; they're just working in the private sector."

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten noted that groups like New Visions and CEI-PEA have held contracts with DOE and individual schools for the past several years. She said the amount of money being funneled their way may not increase due to the new system, depending upon whether the new contracts replace or supplement existing ones.

"The system told the Chancellor and the Mayor: don't privatize; don't make us buy services from the outside, we want services from the inside," she said, referring to the fact that only 10 percent of schools chose the private groups. "I think that was a big surprise to them, but it doesn't surprise me."

CUNY Among Providers

The Washington, D.C.-based Academy for Educational Development will assist 10 middle schools, which was its maximum capacity. The cost to DOE will be $543,255 per year. Fordham University was also matched with 10 schools for an annual total of $463,602. Replications, Inc., which has worked with city public schools for the past decade, will partner with eight schools and take in at least $378,715 in the coming year. Three other nonprofits based outside the city did not attract enough interest to make the minimum required by the contract.

The Center for School Support and Success at CUNY will collect $649,776 for its work with 13 public schools.

Payments to the private groups could rise as DOE pays what are known as "fringe costs." Principals were told in advance how much each option would cost them, and they were quoted the lowest amount, based on each group being filled to capacity. If a group contracted with fewer schools than its maximum, the per school cost rises. DOE, instead of the individual school, will make up the leftover cost.

The contracts last for three years with the possibility to opt-out with DOE approval after the first year if the school is dissatisfied.

The four DOE-staffed structures, known as Learning Support Organizations, were chosen by 750 schools and are budgeted for a total of $35.6 million for the coming school year. Another 481 schools chose to become Empowerment Schools, which rely on a network of other schools for support with reduced services, and are allocated $14.3 million.