Learning a Lesson?

I've always been pretty skeptical about for-profit schools, at least at the K-12 level. So it was with interest that I read this in today's Springfield State journal-Register:

The Springfield School Board on Monday night all but voted out of town the
for-profit corporation that has been operating Feitshans-Edison Elementary
School for the past five years.

District 186 entered into a contract with Edison Schools in the fall of 2000 that allowed the company to run the school on its own for five years. Edison supplied the curriculum, technology and professional development while the district provided most of the funding and the Feitshans building at 1101 S. 15th St.

To renew the contract meant the district and the company would have to
reach an agreement before the current contract runs out this summer. But after
several months of negotiations over what district officials considered unacceptable new terms, the board told School Superintendent Diane Rutledge that it's probably best to just move on.

"We would be in favor of not renewing the contract," said board
president Rick Heironimus, adding that the board believes the district can do
"as well and maybe better" without Edison's help.

Edison appears not to have made negotiations very easy. Presented with
the latest proposal from the company Monday, the district was given only one day
to approve it.

Edison, according to the district's finance director, Agnes Nunn,
claimed it needed about $700,000 more to run the school during the
2005-06 year than what the district would spend to run it.

The company provided the school its own professional-development
training, student-assessment software and computers. Feitshans-Edison also
offers fine arts and Spanish classes, which most Spring- field elementary
centers do not. Its school days and year are longer than the district's average.

However, Feitshans-Edison, which operates as a magnet school,
meaning it's available to students throughout the district, has been
experiencing a drop in enrollment recently. And it continues to be one of the lowest-performing schools in the district.

"We're not convinced the Edison model has gotten us to where it should
be," said board member Cheryl Wise.

[snip]

According to its Web site, New York City-based Edison runs 157 schools
in districts across the country. Through consulting services and other programs,
Edison claims to serve 250,000 students in 20 states, Washington, D.C., and the
United Kingdom.

Public school bashers are always claiming the "free market" can solve any and all education woes and for a lower price. Well maybe not so much, huh?