By Charles Mahtesian

In late July, when the Republican Party converges on staunchly Democratic Philadelphia for the 2000 GOP national convention, it is apt to be viewed by many residents as a hostile occupying force. But the GOP pales as an adversary compared to another army that is currently amassing to invade the City of Brotherly Love.

In Harrisburg, Governor Tom Ridge is preparing to step in and take control of the Philadelphia school system if the district closes down this summer due to a lack of funds. School officials say that without an additional $64 million, they may have no other choice. Tight-fisted state officials, on the other hand, insist that the amount of state aid has very little to do with the problems confronting the school system in Pennsylvania’s most populous city. Either way, the long-running battle over who is responsible for the faltering Philadelphia schools looks to be coming to a head.

If Ridge decides on a takeover, Pennsylvania will join a growing number of places where state officials have marched in and assumed control of local schools in cases of fiscal or “academic” bankruptcy. Can state bean-counters and bureaucrats save deeply troubled local school districts? The record so far is mixed.

Twenty-three states have passed academic-bankruptcy laws that hold school districts accountable for poor student results, but to date only a few of them can boast much accomplishment. Logan County, West Virginia is often cited as a state-takeover success story where full control was returned to the local district within five years. But in New Jersey, the site of the most far-reaching and long-running experiments in state intervention, the results have been less promising.

A new study by the Reason Public Policy Institute confirms what many critics of state takeovers, both in New Jersey and elsewhere, have long contended: A few intervention efforts have demonstrated academic progress, but many showed no progress at all. Several were associated with additional declines in academic performance. The primary benefit of a state takeover appears to be a restoration of sound fiscal management.

When it comes to the Philadelphia schools, that in itself might be reason enough for state intervention. But if Harrisburg is looking for something beyond that, it’s going to take a lot more than an occupying army.

Charles Mahtesian is a Governing staff writer.

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