
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994                    TAG: 9406150011 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A16    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940615                                 LENGTH:

PRIVATIZE SOME PORTSMOUTH SCHOOLS?\

{LEAD} School Superintendent Richard D. Trumble will ask the School Board on June 30 to reject proposals from four private companies bidding to manage five Portsmouth schools - four elementary schools, one middle school.

He promises that his recommendation won't end his pursuit of ``privatization.'' He says he will request fresh proposals that address questions raised when scrutinizing the plans deemed unsatisfactory.

{REST} He should follow through, in the same spirit that first moved him to consider privatization. ``I must be willing to explore every program that has the potential to help our students,'' Trumble says. Amen to that.

Is privatizing schools the cure-all for the multiple ills afflicting public education? Can for-profit companies do a better job than public-school systems of teaching the students fed willy-nilly into public schools now? Can they do it for the same money or less? Because privatization is young, conclusive experience is lacking.

But early results have emboldened Minneapolis, Minn., to hire a consulting firm to superintend its schools, Massachusetts' public schools to hire 13 private companies to design and operate 15 new schools, and Baltimore to hire a company to manage one middle and eight elementary schools.

Experimentation is under way in other communities. If the next round of proposals produces a plausible offer, Portsmouth should join them.

by CNB