Profiles of For-Profit Education Management：公司的利润的教育管理.doc

Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Companies 2001-2002 by Alex Molnar, Glen Wilson, Melissa Restori, and John Hutchison Introduction Publicly funded schools run by education management companies on a for-profit basis are a controversial innovation intended to improve schools through the profit-seeking motive of the marketplace. Supporters of this innovation argue that education management companies, in their pursuit of profits, will reduce administrative inefficiency, hire and retain effective administrators and teachers, introduce and refine new educational innovations, and produce gains in student achievement superior to those of regular public schools. While private sector companies have always transacted business with, and profited from selling supplies and equipment to schools, the idea of managing and administering K-12 publicly funded schools with the intent of making profits is relatively new. Seeing the similarities with health maintenance organizations (HMOs) that manage the health care process, Wall Street has used the term “EMO” or “education management organization,” to describe for-profit companies involved in the management and administration of public schools. The Structure of the Industry For-profit management of public schools generally takes two forms: local school districts contract with EMOs for the management of existing traditional K-12 public schools (termed “contract schools”) or the EMOs manage public charter schools either as the charter holder or under the terms of a contract with the charter holder. In the early 90’s, EMOs tended to pursue the contract school approach. In recent years, many EMOs have taken the opportunity afforded by permissive charter school legislation and focused on the management of charter schools. It now appears that the increase in the number of charter schools is the main source of EMO growth. Not surprisingly, states such as Michigan and Arizona with permissive charter school laws also have th