Bloomberg's Business Model Reforms in New York City Schools

Introduction

In his Business Week article "Can Business Save New York Schools?", Mike France describes Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's attempts to improve New York City's public schools by applying business principles to public education. Bloomberg's reforms are sweeping, focusing on accountability, centralized control, revamping the culture of education, training principals, and keeping a tight rein on expenses. Among these reforms is a standardized curriculum, which may result in poorer outcomes for students with special needs. The application of business principles to education also raises important philosophical questions.

Bloomberg's reforms are described as "the most systematic effort ever to force capitalistic thinking into the insular kingdom of public education," according to education historian Michael Katz. Katz further notes that "professional educators have been incredibly successful at fending off outside influences" (cited in France, 2003). While the application of business principles to education is not an entirely novel phenomenon, it is one of a number of progressive trends in the field. The large scale of Bloomberg's reforms, however, makes the New York experiment especially significant to those in education.

Bloomberg's Administrative and Cultural Reforms

To begin his reforms, Bloomberg created an entirely new administration composed largely of top corporate executives. These included Bertelsmann Inc. Chief Executive Joel I. Klein, Covad CEO Robert E. Knowling Jr., Ron Beller (a former executive at Goldman Sachs), Jack Welch (GE CEO), and Samuel J. Palmisano (IBM CEO).

To create effective bureaucratic change, Bloomberg focused on transforming the very culture of the Department of Education. This included centralizing authority and reforming training practices. A $75 million Leadership Academy for principals was established to allow creative techniques to be assimilated throughout the school system, and initiatives were introduced for principals to adopt each other's best practices.

Bloomberg's changes to the bureaucracy were physical as well as administrative and cultural in nature. Part of his strategy was to physically separate supervisors from staff, relocate them to a new building with an open floor plan, and transfer other staff elsewhere. Restructuring also included the standardization of curriculum, which allowed administrators to make better comparisons between schools, thereby improving accountability — another key feature of Bloomberg's reforms.

Challenges Facing the Reforms

The challenges facing Bloomberg's ambitious experiment are serious. In 1998, only 16% of students who entered high school passed the required tests to earn a Regents diploma — a figure representing the failure of the large majority of students to demonstrate basic competence in mathematics, history, and reading.

Despite many changes, Bloomberg has been stymied by union contracts that make it difficult for innovators to raise teacher pay, replace outdated computer systems, or build new schools. On top of these challenges, New York City's broader fiscal crisis forced Bloomberg to cut $175 million from the school budget.

There is also significant and often heated opposition to Bloomberg's agenda. Local politicians, state legislators, and the teachers' union have gone on record opposing his plan. Despite these objections, there is also considerable outside support for the reforms. As France notes, "most independent observers agree that bringing a business perspective to New York schools is a good idea." However, these same observers are skeptical that Bloomberg's reforms can succeed during a period of reduced per-pupil spending.

Conclusion

France, Mike. 2003. "Can Business Save New York Schools?" Business Week, June 9, 2003, 106–108.