The Philadelphia School District's experiment with private managers will continue largely unchanged - at least for one more year. The School Reform Commission has rejected a plan that would have removed managers from 12 schools where test scores have been stagnant during five years of private management and returned them to district control. Instead, the commission voted, 3-1, to allow Edison Schools Inc. and five other managers to continue to operate 38 Philadelphia schools through June 30, 2008.
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EARLIER: The Philadelphia School Reform Commission has postponed a decision on new contracts for six groups managing 41 district schools. The commission plans to vote next week on new contracts for the for-profit Edison Schools Inc. and Victory Schools Inc., the nonprofit Foundations Inc. and Universal Companies, and the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University.
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Philadelphia's experiment with outside managers running district schools may continue next year, but there could be less money for the providers and other changes. Five years after the school district embarked on the largest private-management experiment in the nation, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission is considering whether to renew school-management contracts with Edison Schools Inc. and five other outside providers. Commission members are discussing possible scenarios for the managers' future that could reduce the scope of their involvement and keep costs within the $12 million the commission has set aside for managers in the district's $2.2 billion budget.
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