NEW YORK CITY FAILS THE SANITY TEST

How unsurprising

"Catherine Hickey is vicar of education for the New York Catholic Archdiocese and one of the city's unsung heroes. Against all odds, she runs a school system that successfully serves thousands of the city's poor and minority families. Despite an average per-pupil expenditure of only $4,500 or so, Catholic high school graduation rates are twice as high as the city's public schools. This accomplishment is even more impressive-some would say miraculous-when viewed against the backdrop of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit that the state is facing. After a decade of litigation, the New York Court of Appeals ruled in 2003 that the main reason New York City's children weren't getting a "sound basic education" as guaranteed by the state constitution was gross underfunding of the city schools.

Gotham's education budget stood at $13.8 billion a year at the time. It is currently $15.3 billion, making for a per-pupil expenditure of nearly $15,000. Mayor Bloomberg recently testified in the remedy phase of the case that no one could expect him to provide the city's schoolchildren with a decent education for such a piddling amount. Nothing less than an extra $5.4 billion in annual aid from the state-bringing the city's per-pupil spending up to $20,000-would enable him to fulfill the promises of academic improvement he made when Albany gave him control of the schools.

When I told Catherine Hickey about the mayor's plea of poverty, she seemed flabbergasted. An ever-increasing spending gap between the public and parochial school systems is already putting enormous pressure on the Catholic schools. As the city education budget increases, some of that money goes to increased public school teacher salaries: first-year New York City schoolteachers will soon be earning about $42,000. That's more than what even veteran teachers make in parochial schools. To keep their teachers from leaving to work in the public system, the Catholic schools will have to boost teacher salaries, too, forcing tuition to go up and putting the squeeze on their low-income families.

Once upon a time, we would have expected Gotham's conservative education reformers to rally to the aid of the Catholic schools, recognizing that a healthy parochial school system is in the city's interest. No one saw this more clearly than former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He knew that Catholic schools challenged the public school monopoly to do better, reminding us that the neediest kids are educable and that throwing more and more of the taxpayer's money at the public school problem isn't the answer. He pushed for a pilot voucher program that would allow thousands of poor kids to escape their failing public schools and attend a private school of their choice. Stymied on taxpayer-funded vouchers, he then supported a private voucher program sponsored by a group of conservative New York philanthropists.

Today, though, conservative education reformers seem to be expending much of their energy cheering on Mayor Bloomberg's reform agenda. This was understandable early on, when the mayor seemed to be applying the lessons that the Catholic schools taught. Notably, Bloomberg didn't complain about money. Instead, he recognized that the problem was a "dysfunctional" and uncompetitive system. He also promised a "back-to-basics" curriculum and an end to bilingual education-both hallmarks of the Catholic school approach-and a thorough reform of the teachers' contract.

Now, three years into Mayor Bloomberg's term, it's time for conservatives to rethink their enthusiasm. True, Bloomberg deserves some kudos for his plan to open 50 charter schools (of uneven quality, though, and a drop in the bucket of a total of 1,200 schools) and for allegedly ending "social promotion" in the third and fifth grades. But the city schools have seen no movement on bilingual education and work-rule reforms. Worse, the city has turned classroom instruction over to a claque of progressive education ideologues who are enforcing a leftist pedagogy that endangers the worst-off kids, who most need a highly-structured pedagogical approach. Not only does Bloomberg oppose vouchers, his schools chancellor, Joel Klein, has blocked thousands of students in failing schools from exercising their right to public school choice under the No Child Left Behind Act....."

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NOW ISN'T THAT SURPRISING!

How dreadful that parents are doing everything they can to get their kids away from dangerous big city schools destroyed by political correctness

Nearly half of the school districts in California are struggling with an unnerving drop in enrollment, forcing large school districts in San Jose, Oakland and elsewhere to close schools and squeeze their remaining students into fewer campuses. Where did those students go? Some have transferred to private schools, while others have left California altogether. But many have moved to the Central Valley and Southern California's Inland Empire, where young families -- many who can't afford to raise their children in Silicon Valley and other coastal hubs -- and recent immigrants are buying homes and putting down roots.

For Bay Area families, that means fewer neighborhood schools and growing budget deficits, since the loss of each student means the loss of roughly $7,200 in state funding. While the San Jose Unified School District closed three schools last year and is expected to shut three more this summer, the Elk Grove Unified School District, south of Sacramento, is bursting at the seams. ``We get about eight new students a day,'' said Elk Grove spokesman Jim Elliot. ``Or enough to fill an entire classroom every three to four days.''

Public school enrollment in California -- hovering around 6.3 million right now -- has always been volatile and difficult to accurately forecast. Numerous factors, from birth rates and immigration to boom-bust economic cycles, housing growth and recession-related migration out of state creates a combustive brew. And California is now seeing inland counties gaining students at the expense of districts that hug the Pacific coast. San Jose Unified is just one example. Last year, declining enrollment and a gaping budget deficit led the 31,000-student district to close Erikson, Hammer, and Hester elementary schools. The process was a painful one, and some teachers wept as they packed up their classrooms. ``We didn't like it, we didn't want it, and we didn't think it was fair,'' said Susan Sveinson, a former Erikson parent whose twin daughters made the transition and are now in the third grade at Allen Elementary. Small things -- like the fact that Allen's school day starts later than Erikson's did -- took a lot of getting used to. ``I don't wish this upon anybody,'' Sveinson said. ``It's the hardest thing that I've ever had to go through as a parent, but I understand that something has to be done.''

But this fall, revised enrollment figures once again stunned the district's senior staff. An additional 633 students in kindergarten through the fifth grade -- more than the population of one entire elementary school -- left San Jose Unified between October 2003 and October 2004. The controversial process of consolidating campuses started all over again, and nine elementary schools -- including Allen -- were on a possible closing list......

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AND ITS HAPPENING IN TEXAS TOO

Falling enrollment threatens to close several small schools in southern Dallas. Local charter schools, however, are growing and show no signs of slowing down. In fact, evidence suggests the two trends are linked. In southern Dallas, the rise of charters appears to be a significant factor in the Dallas Independent School District's falling enrollment there. Throughout the 1990s, DISD's enrollments grew by an average of 3,175 students a year. Those gains stalled in 1999 -- the first year that local charter schools enrolled large numbers of students.

In 1999, 3,726 students who lived in DISD attended a publicly financed charter instead. By 2003-04, that number had nearly tripled -- to 9,307, according to data obtained from the Texas Education Agency. Meanwhile, since 2002, DISD's enrollment dropped by 5,684 students. "My biggest problem is growth," said Tom Wilson, who runs the Life Charter School on Ann Arbor Avenue in southern Dallas. Last school year, 632 of Life Charter's 1,100 students lived within DISD's boundaries, according to state records. Mr. Wilson said that while his school draws students from 13 different public school districts, most come from nearby neighborhood schools. Five DISD schools are within one mile of Life Charter, and all of them have seen their enrollments shrink since the charter school opened, state records show. Two of the schools have lost one quarter of their students.

A similar enrollment trend appears in Houston, home to the state's largest charter school population. Houston school district enrollments also grew steadily through the 1990s but began falling in 1999, the same year that charter school enrollment soared. It also happened in San Antonio. Overall, about 61,000 Texas students attend more than 300 charter schools this year. Charter schools in Dallas are growing where DISD's enrollment is declining: Oak Cliff and southern Dallas, areas long troubled by poverty, high crime, low-performing schools and other social problems......

Parents at Life Charter School say they like the school's discipline, structure and family atmosphere. They also wanted their children in a school where they were challenged and where parental input is valued. Vincent Delgado, founder of Golden Rule Charter School, said he's scrambling to keep up with the needs of his growing school. In just its third year, Golden Rule's enrollment hit 430 last year, almost all of them students living within DISD's boundaries. In an attempt to provide more personal attention, he scaled back to 300 students this year until a new 500-student facility is ready for occupancy in August. "We are surrounded by traditionally low-performing schools, and parents are taking that into consideration," said Mr. Delgado, a former DISD teacher. Parents, he said, are "searching for alternatives."......

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

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