State takes over struggling Philadelphia school system

PHILADELPHIA -- Students and teachers returning to classes after the holidays are going to find someone new in charge of the schools.

State leaders seized control of the Philadelphia school district at 12:01 a.m. Saturday -- setting in motion what experts called the most ambitious reform program ever attempted.

Gov. Mark Schweiker has argued that bold strokes are needed in a district with a $216 million budget deficit, low test scores, chronic teacher shortages and crumbling buildings. Eighty percent of the district's 210,000 students are poor, and students speak more than 70 languages.

Major elements of the plan won't be implemented until September.

What changes almost immediately is the governance of the nation's seventh-largest school district.

A five-member reform commission will replace the eight-member school board appointed by the mayor. The commission must hire an interim chief executive officer and decide how to implement Schweiker's vision.

Schweiker wants to hire Edison Schools Inc., the nation's largest for-profit education company, to operate dozens of low-performing schools and advise the district's management.