I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. Edison schools took over a failing public elementary school in San Francisco in 1998. It turned the school around.
Enrollment at the school is up 50 percent, students have new computers, residents say the school is safer. In nearly all grades, standardized test scores rose significantly — more than doubling the proportion of students scoring in the top half nationally on math and reading tests, while the percentage in the lowest ranks has been cut by a third.
But now, according to a New York Times story, the San Francisco school board wants to end Edison's conract. Why? Because the board says it is — gasp — run by a for profit company.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont. Next time, JFK sells tax cuts.