A VIEW FROM CHICAGO

James Ylisela Jr. teaches urban reporting at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He's the consulting editor of The Chicago Reporter.

In lawmakers' eyes, Paul Vallas has met the conditions for sainthood
by James Ylisela Jr.

For the last four years, Paul Vallas has been the darling of reporters and politicians. As CEO of the Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees, he has single-handedly shifted the image of Chicago's schools from worst-in-the-nation to a model of urban education reform hailed by President Bill Clinton and others.

State lawmakers love Vallas. In their eyes, he has met all the required conditions for sainthood — especially the part about performing miracles. Besides, as long as Vallas is fixing the Chicago schools, they don't have to. And doing nothing about education has always been the General Assembly's strong suit.

But even they seemed stunned by Vallas' latest proposal, which would have given the Chicago board power to overturn a local school council's decision to remove a principal.

Board officials argued the measure, introduced in the state Senate, would make the councils more accountable, while council advocates complained it would strip them of a key function.

Politicians really gnashed their teeth over this one. They don't want to say no to Vallas, but they also are reluctant to undo one of the fundamental tenants of the state's 1988 School Reform Act.

But even as lawmakers inched toward compromise calling for independent review, a few might have wondered, "Just how much power does Paul Vallas need?"

But even they seemed stunned by his latest proposal to give Chicago's school board more power over local councils.

This cult-of-personality worked pretty well for Chairman Mao, and it seems to be serving Chicago Mayor Richard Daley quite nicely, but school reform was supposed to end reliance on a Maximum Leader.

Ten years ago, Chicago embarked on a great journey to rescue what everyone seemed to agree was the lousiest school district in the country The crux of reform lay in decentralizing the system — taking power out of the hands of the few and making schools more accountable for what goes on inside their walls.

In 1989, more than 300, 000 Chicagoans elected some 5, 400 people to 542 local school councils. These bodies, made up of teachers, parents and other community leaders, would make real decisions about who ran their schools, how to spend the money and what teachers taught in the classroom.

But reform couldn't flourish if teachers went on strike. In 1995, the Republican-controlled General Assembly amended the reform law, loosened some of the financial constraints and handed control to Mayor Daley. The mayor ordered Vallas, his budget chief, and Gery Chico, his former chief of staff, to clean house.

And they did. Vallas and Chico brought fiscal discipline to a school system that had flunked Basic Accounting. They trimmed the bureaucracy, cut waste and corruption, and bought four years of labor peace.

Vallas got most of the credit, and he earned it by working harder than anyone else in the system, putting in 12- to 14-hour days and making tough decisions, such as ending social promotion and intervening in schools that couldn't solve their own problems.

And while the schools may have had nowhere to go but up, there's no denying they've improved, especially at the elementary level.

Now there's trouble at the top. Vallas and Chico aren't getting along, and their long-simmering feud has finally gone public. And last month, the rumors started: Vallas is reportedly Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's top choice to become chancellor of the New York City schools.

For the moment, Vallas says he's staying put, and let's hope he means it. Chicago is ready to move to the next level of reform, tackling perhaps the thorniest issue of all: improving teacher performance.

What's more, Vallas doesn't need to be a Miracle Worker to help us get there. The key to better teachers lies at the heart of school reform: a clear, well- thought out plan from the central administration, but one that is adaptable to the needs and circumstances of individual schools.

This is an area where local school councils can make a real difference, but it won't help if Vallas makes them feel as if they no longer have a say in the basic decisions affecting their schools.

Vallas should stick around long enough to move reform to its next logical phase, not by further consolidating his control, but by understanding that real power means being comfortable about sharing it. Now that would be a miracle. 

Illinois Issues June 1999 / 41