Whittle's "vision" for Edison schools included using volunteer instead of paid teachers when available, relying on computerized instruction whenever feasible, requiring students to do custodial work. He also predicted that there would be 1000 such schools by early 2000s. Michael Hoover
> Published Friday, September 8, 2000, in the Miami Herald
>
> Teachers' union to run 10 charter schools
>
> BY ANALISA NAZARENO
> anazareno at herald.com
>
> The United Teachers of Dade is entering into a partnership with the
> nation's largest private, for-profit school management company to operate
> 10 charter schools in Miami-Dade County, an arrangement that dramatically
> concludes the union's once-hostile stance toward charter schools.
>
> ``I imagine that the reaction from our union brethren will be anything from
> applause for our innovation to apprehension,'' said Pat Tornillo, the
> executive vice president for the UTD, which represents the district's
> 20,000 teachers.
>
> In years past, the union lobbied against charter school legislation,
> arguing that any money diverted from public schools would weaken the
> system. The union has since softened its stance and even
> encouraged two union members who are operating a charter Montessori school
> in Southwest Miami-Dade.
>
> ``There is no question that charter schools are a part of the educational
> landscape,'' Tornillo said.
>
> ``Both presidential candidates are talking about extending federal funds
> for the construction and maybe even the operation of charter schools. We
> want to be part of it.''
>
> The union's New York-based partner, Edison Schools, operates 79 public
> schools nationwide.
>
> The Miami-Dade deal took state Senate education budget chairman, Sen.
> Donald Sullivan, a Republican from St. Petersburg, by surprise.
>
> ``I can't understand why they would do that,'' Sullivan said. ``After years
> of being opposed to this and opposed to any money going outside the
> educational system . . . it's just strange.
>
> ``I don't have any objections. I think this is probably the first place in
> the United States that's doing this.''
>
> Though Edison and other private school-management companies have cooperated
> with local unions, this type of agreement, its size and scope, is most
> unusual, said academics studying the school choice movement.
>
> ``I would say that what the teachers union is doing is visionary,'' said
> Katherine K. Merseth, a lecturer
> with the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Director of the
> Harvard Project on Schooling and Children. ``They are acknowledging that
> there are some things that private entities can do and do better. They're
> deciding to stay in the game and not walk away. I think it's an extremely
> positive development.''
>
> The historical significance was not lost on the Edison executives.
>
> ``We know that school reformers, public school leaders and others will be
> viewing us very carefully,'' said chairman Benno Schmidt Jr.
>
> Edison has had a contract to operate Henry Reeves Elementary School in
> Miami-Dade since 1996. It is the only school that Edison operates in
> Florida. The teachers there earn the same base salary as teachers in the
> public system.
>
> They also receive a stipend for working a longer school day and school year
> and they have options for Edison stock.
>
> After four years under the Edison company, Reeves Elementary's academic
> performance is no worse
> and no better than other schools in surrounding districts. It received a D
> grade from the state, based on student performance on the Florida
> Comprehensive Assessment Test.
>
> How much teachers get paid at the charter schools, what curriculum will be
> used, and where the schools will be located are all details that are still
> being working out.
>
> Tornillo said that the union would likely use the Edison curriculum as a
> base and modify it as parents and teachers suggest. Edison uses a
> ``school-within-a-school'' model.
>
> According to Edison literature, they branch a school into ``academies''
> with separate teachers and
> administrators in teams in an attempt to create a small-school feeling.
>
> The charter schools' curricula and test results must be scrutinized in the
> same way that public schools are, said Luis Huerta, a research policy
> associate with the University of California at Berkeley.
>
> ``I think it's important for parents to know whether a whole curriculum is
> going to be substituted with a
> testing curriculum [teaching to the test],'' said Huerta, whose research
> focuses on charter schools. ``Will they simply be replicating what is
> already occurring in public schools?''
>
> Tornillo said the union will submit an application to the district in
> October that will include site plans and curriculum designs for seven
> elementary schools and a middle school that will open for the 2001-02
> school year.
>
> They also plan to open another middle school for the 2002-03 school year
> and a 2,000-student high
> school for the 2003-04 school year. In total, the union plans to serve up
> to 10,000 students.
>
> They must first obtain school board approval before they can move on with
> the plans. If the union and Edison win charter contracts from the school
> district, they could stand to gain $9.5 million for school construction and
> an annual budget of $50 million.
>
> During a press conference announcing the agreement, three school board
> members lauded the union and Edison for the partnership.
>
> ``If we don't get involved in this, other people will, and they may not
> have the interest in children the way that teachers would,'' said Dr.
> Michael Krop, school board vice chairman. ``This will be a help to the
> public school system, which is not only overcrowded, but lacking in funds
> to build schools as quickly as we would like.''
> -------