ABSTRACT
In 1995, Alternative Public Schools of Nashville, Tennessee, took over one of three elementary schools in Wilkensburg, Pennsylvania; it was the first time the company had run a school anywhere. Since 1990, the companies and the highly publicized Edison Project founded by Chris Whittle have captured headlines by attempting to make money running public schools. David C. Berliner's arguments about the cost of public education are bolstered by a 1995 Economic Policy Institute Report. And his interpretation of school performance indicators is supported by a detailed analysis of education statistics undertaken by Sandia National Laboratories in 1991. Within education, privatization may continue to provide a comforting illusion of change without the sacrifices that would be necessary to bring about real improvement. It helps perpetuate the myth that the fundamental problems of schools are caused by bureaucratic structures, incompetence, and self-interested greed of unions, instead of crushing poverty, racism, and a lack of jobs created by government and corporate economic policy.
