Real Reform for Detroit’s Kids
为底特律孩子做真正的改革
It’s time to break up the city’s dysfunctional school system.
是时候打破这座城市功能失调的学校系统了。
Even as it tries to revive itself after emerging from bankruptcy, Detroit faces a new crisis: it had to shut down many of its schools this week because of a sickout by teachers. The Detroit Federation of Teachers engineered the stoppage to pressure the Michigan legislature to agree to a $715 million aid package—without which, Detroit schools could run out of money by June.
即使底特律在摆脱破产之后试图重整，它还是面临着新的危机：由于教师的托病旷工，本周许多学校被迫关闭。底特律教师联合会策划了这次罢工，以便向密歇根州议会施压让它同意一个7.15亿美元的援助项目——没有它，底特律的学校在六月就会破产。
Michigan governor Rick Snyder wants to tie the aid to reforms that would bring new leadership to the troubled system, but some legislators are skeptical—with good reason. Snyder’s plan represents the fifth major reform agenda in the last 30 years for the Detroit Public Schools, which have been plagued by lousy leadership, a reform-resistant union, and a shortage of resources. Instead of a new plan for an old system, it’s time for Snyder and Michigan’s legislators to try something new.
密歇根州长Rick Snyder想把这个援助项目与一项改革挂钩，这项改革将把新领导班子引入这个陷于困境的系统，但是一些议员对此持怀疑态度——而且有很好的理由。Snyder的计划是过去30年里底特律公立学校的第五大改革议程，而底特律公立学校一直被糟糕的领导，抵抗改革的工会和资源短缺所困扰。 是时候让Snyder和密歇根立法委员会尝试一些新的方法，而不只是用个新瓶装旧酒。
Detroit’s public schools began their decline in the 1970s, as middle class residents fled the city. Even as the educational challenges increased, however, the system’s bureaucracy grew and grew. The board of education gained a reputation for financial mismanagement, fostering the impression that Detroit’s schools were being operated as a jobs program for adults, rather than to educate kids.
随着中产阶级逃离底特律，这座城市的公立学校从1970年代就开始衰退。尽管教育挑战加剧，这个系统的官僚主义却日积月累。教育委员会得到了财务管理不善的名声，造成了一种底特律的学校是以给成年人提供就业计划而运作，而不是教育孩子的印象。
By the late 1980s, the system ran a $180 million deficit, with a high school dropout rate of 50 percent and daily absenteeism averaging almost 20 percent of all students. The state brought in new management to stabilize the school system’s budget.
到1980年代末，教育系统有着1.8亿美元的财政赤字，高中辍学率高达50%，平均每天的缺席人数几乎占所有学生的20%。州里曾引进新的管理办法来稳定学校系统的预算。
Education reforms followed. Some principals gained the freedom to select their own curriculum and staff. A bitter teachers’ strike undermined these reform efforts, shuttering schools for 26 days in September of 1992. As one school board member told the press: “[The strike] hit the reform effort upside the head like a two-by-four.”
教育改革随后也被实行了。有些校长获得了选择他们自己的课程和员工的自由。一次激烈的教师罢工破环了这些改革措施，使得学校在1992年9月不得已被关闭26天。一个学校董事会成员告诉媒体，“（这次罢工）给了改革努力当头一棒。”
The school district continued to drift. Controversy erupted when the board mishandled $1.5 billion in borrowed money meant to renovate schools. In 1997, then-governor John Engler proposed dissolving the board of education and turning the system over to a new group appointed by Mayor Dennis Archer.
学区继续脱离正轨。由于学校董事会对借来用于修缮学校的15亿美元管理不当，争议再度触发。1997年，时任州长John Engler提议解散学校董事会，把这个机构变成由市长Dennis Archer掌管的一个新部门。
In September 1999, however, the teachers struck again, this time for nine days, in opposition to Archer’s reform proposals, which included a merit-pay system tied to classroom performance. Archer wound up dropping the idea.
然而，在1999年9月，教师再次罢工，这次为期9天，以此反对Archer的改革提议。罢工提议包括了一个与课堂表现相关联的绩效工资制度。Archer最终放弃了他的改革设想。
Five years later, with the system showing little progress in educating students, frustrated Detroit residents voted for yet another reform plan, this time giving management of the schools back to an elected school board. That decision proved disastrous; the district’s finances quickly deteriorated.
五年之后，随着该系统显示出在教育学生方面进展甚微，沮丧的底特律居民投票支持另一个改革计划，这次把管理学校的权力还给了一个选举产生的学校董事会。这一决定被证明是灾难性的，该地区的财政状况迅速恶化。
In September 2006, teachers went on strike yet again, this time over proposals to freeze pay and require greater health-care contributions. By 2009, the district faced a $259 million deficit, as the new board failed to cut costs to respond to a rapid enrollment decline. Governor Jennifer Granholm seized control of the Detroit school district in February 2009 and installed a financial manager to right the ship.
2006年9月，教师再次罢工，这次针对的是冻结薪水和要求更多的医保缴款。到2009年，由于新的学校董事会在入学率快速下降的同时却没能消减支出，该地区面临着一个2.59亿美元的财政赤字。在2009年2月，州长Jennifer Granholm控制了底特律的学区，并指定了一个财务经理来挽回局势。
An audit discovered hundreds of employees getting paid for no-show jobs and salaries allocated to dead people. Obama education secretary Arne Duncan called the district a “national disgrace.” The system’s graduation rate had plunged to 25 percent, and in 2009, its students registered the lowest scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress tests since the exams have been given.
一个审计员发现有上百员工通过不用出勤的工作获得报酬，甚至有工资分配给死人。奥巴马的教育部长Arne Duncan称这个学区为“国家的耻辱”。这个学校系统的毕业率跌至25%。在2009年，它的学生得到了自从国家教育进展评估测试开展以来的最低分。
The state of Michigan has maintained control since 2009, but progress has been halting, in part because of the school system’s institutional dysfunction. The recalcitrant teachers’ union has successfully resisted many reforms. And Detroit’s bankruptcy, which left the city short of resources, hasn’t helped. Residents keep fleeing the city, and students keep leaving the school system. Enrollment is down to just 49,000, from 168,000 in 2000.
自从2009年来，密歇根州政府一直控制着学校系统，但是进展已经停滞，部分是由于学校系统的制度障碍。顽固的教师工会已成功抵制许多改革。底特律的破产，致使城市资源短缺，对此无所助益。居民一直在逃离这座城市，学生一直在离开学校系统。入学人数从2000年的16万8千跌落至仅有4万9千。
Facing these challenges, Snyder recently appointed the respected former bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes to try and right the system’s finances. But Rhodes isn’t an educator, and Detroit’s kids desperately need better schools. Snyder should recognize by now that they won’t get them from the sclerotic and inept public system.
面临这些挑战，Snyder最近任命备受尊敬的前破产法官Steven Rhodes尝试修正学校系统的财政状况。然而Rhodes并不是教育家，底特律的孩子迫切需要更好的学校。Snyder现在应该意识到, 这些孩子不会从僵化且无能的公共学校系统得到良好的教育。
There is another way. In recent years, dozens of charter schools have been established in Detroit, attracting tens of thousands of city students. In fact, charter schools now enroll more students in Detroit than the public school system does. Snyder should aim higher—toward the complete elimination of traditional public schools in favor of an all-charter model.
还有另一种途径。近年来，底特律建立了许多特许学校，吸引着成千上万的城市学生。事实上，在底特律，现在特许学校比公立学校系统招收的学生更多。Snyder应该追求更高的目标，支持用一个全特许学校模式来彻底取代传统的公立学校。
Too radical? Not for New Orleans, which took this path after Hurricane Katrina, transitioning from its 120-school public education system to one dominated by charter schools. To bring about the transformation, New Orleans turned to the Louisiana Recovery School District (RSD), a state body instituted to take over failing schools.
太过激进？对新奥尔良来说不是。在卡崔娜飓风之后，新奥尔良采取这种方式把120所公立学校系统转化为一个特许学校系统。为了完成这次转变，新奥尔良求助于路易斯安那州复苏学区（RSD） 这一接管失败学校的州立机构。
After Katrina, the RSD became the public school operator in New Orleans. By 2007, some 60 percent of the city’s kids were enrolled in charters. New Orleans phased out its last government schools in 2015, effectively completing the changeover to an all-choice system. Graduation rates and test scores have rallied impressively. And it’s all happened in a network of schools that educates nearly as many children as Detroit does.
在卡崔娜飓风之后，RSD成了新奥尔良公立学校的管理者。到2007年，大约60%的城市孩子进入了特许学校。在2015年，新奥尔良逐步淘汰了最后的公立学校，有效的完成了向一个完全自由择校系统的转换。毕业率和考试成绩的上涨令人印象深刻。这都是发生在一个教育着与底特律同样多孩子的教育网络内。
Not surprisingly, charter schools in Detroit have their opponents. In fact, some critics are using the latest crisis to undermine charters, proposing to limit their ability to expand. Michigan should be doing exactly the opposite—phasing out Detroit’s reform-impervious public school system, encouraging local groups and charter operators from around the country to open more schools, and giving all Detroit residents the opportunity to escape the toxic grip of the city’s disastrous educational system.
不足为奇的是，特许学校在底特律有他们的反对者。事实上，一些批评家利用最新的危机来削弱特许学校并提议限制他们的扩张。密歇根州应该做的恰恰相反，逐步淘汰底特律无力改革的公立学校系统，鼓励地方团体和来自全国各地的特许经营者开放更多的学校，给所有底特律居民机会逃避这个城市有毒的灾难性的教育系统。
Steven Malanga is the senior editor of City Journal, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and the author of Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer.
Steven Malanga是城市期刊的高级编辑，曼哈顿研究院的高级研究员，著有《勒索:对美国纳税人的持续阴谋》。
翻译：babyface_claire（@许你疯不许你傻）
校对：hkustliqi
编辑：辉格@whigzhou