http://nwi.com/articles/2008/08/28/news ... 02e9c7.txtIn a nutshell the governor seems willing to intervene in the Gary School City mess but it is still unclear whether the governor's office or the state school authority should get control. But this should be a no brainier for Daniels - just sell it!
Every other thing in the state seems to be for sale under his leadership including operations of Child Protective Services. Why not put it out on the auction block with a nice bonus for early performance improvements?
Well of course the state can't really "sell" something like that. We learned that with the toll road and state government agencies. But we can lease it out! Yet the toll road deal aside has privatizing been a good thing for state agencies? I'm not at liberty to reveal details but my sources say no, it's not going as well as some would have you think.
OTOH, perhaps a detailed 5 - 10 year private lease is just what the GSC needs. The problem is that to be effective there probably would need to be a last resort mechanism to remove the most troubled youths from the classrooms of those who do want to learn. But the biggest hurdle I see in a possible lease of the school city is what do you do with the current teachers and what of their salary packages? Are they grandfathered in en mass regardless of competence?? This question may be the major stumbling block in such a lease deal. Or perhaps not. But then what of the condition of the buildings themselves? Shouldn't an elected board have final say on a 40 year building commitment? OTOH one could argue that the board has always been a part of the problem and this would be a great test of whether locally elected school boards can negotiate contracts better than a budget conscious governor.
I think the state taking over the schools is generally a good idea, but how much authority it would have available to make long term plans is a bureaucratic nightmare. I think the governor should have taken over the Gary airport 2 years ago as a test run. In comparison that would have been a cakewalk!