National Review Online must have been a fan of Fordham's Education Olympics, for this week it has articles by not one, but two of its stars, Roy Romer and our own Mike Petrilli. Romer offers??the sensible and familiar argument that too many large school systems are in crisis and that "we cannot continue to just do more of the same." What we need, he argues, are "exacting standards," "quality teachers" in every classroom, pay-for-performance plans, and more pay for "those who teach in under-performing, at-risk schools."
I'm sure Mike would agree with those prescriptions, but today he's in no mood??for mere incremental reforms, worthy as they might be. In districts like Detroit, whose mammoth failures mirror those of Wall Street, he writes that
States have a long history of coming to the rescue of huge urban districts, long after they have demonstrated an utter inability to get results or balance their books... What's needed is a fresh start, a do-over, a clean slate for Detroit. Simply put, the state should declare Detroit Public Schools bankrupt. Michigan should take it into receivership and void or renegotiate all of its contracts (including its collective-bargaining agreement with the teachers union). It should slice through any red tape that would keep Detroit from creating a world-class system, including Michigan's cap on new charter schools and its burdensome teacher-certification requirements.
Americans are understandably growing impatient with government bailouts of Wall Street. When will we become just as frustrated with government bailouts of dysfunctional public school systems too?
The Wall Street analogy is far from perfect - the obvious objection being that when a bank or insurance company fails, the direct impact is felt in one's wallet; when schools are shut, the pain is borne by children. Still, New Orleans can't be the only urban system in American needing to start anew, so it's worth pondering this: would any politician be so bold as to inflict a man-made Katrina, or Lehman Brothers, on a public school system?
