PAUL VALLAS will be missed.
His announcement that he'll be leaving his post as CEO of the school district after five years was one of the city's worst- kept secrets. The hints he's been giving in private conversations muted much of Wednesday's surprise. Those hints got broader as questions arose about spiraling deficits in the school budget.
Under Vallas and the School Reform Commission, the district has improved. Students have experienced greater academic success. There are smaller high schools, new and renovated buildings, thriving charter schools. There is a comprehensive early-childhood-education program, more certified teachers, improved student attendance. Since the state takeover in 2002, the district has seen innovation after too many years of malaise and a sense that "we can't do that here."
In the wake of Vallas' decision to leave, we're especially grateful for one thing: that he announced his intention before the primary election.
Deliberately or not, Vallas has catapulted the topic of education to No. 1 on the issues list in the campaign, knocking aside the oh-so-easy topic of crime. His resignation will force the candidates for City Council and the mayor's office to come to grips with a complex issue that can't be dealt with simply by saying, "Put more cops in the streets."
The next mayor and Council won't have any direct say in who becomes the new CEO. That'll be up to the SRC, which will be lobbied by everyone from Mayor Street to Gov. Rendell and perhaps Vallas himself.
This is a crucial time for the school district. It will embark on a new five-year plan, and have to find additional money from the state and city to maintain the gains its students have achieved. It took someone like Vallas, with his hyper personality (which could rub some people the wrong way) and big vision to handle the state takeover. He was a change agent. And, after five years, we know a lot more about what works and what doesn't when it comes to educating our kids.
But in Vallas' replacement, we need less an agent of change, and more an agent of stability.
Few jobs are as difficult as being head of a large urban school district. Most last about three years - their jobs often compromised by politics, unions, and antiquated funding formulas.
And though the next mayor won't have a direct input on the new schools CEO, he will have an impact on the five-member SRC: The mayor appoints two members, the state three. And often the chairman, James Nevels, has sided with the city representatives. So the mayor can still have a significant influence on the job search.
Vallas and Mayor Street often jostled in public, at Council or school district hearings. But they were one when it came to reducing school truancy. In remarks yesterday, Street was conciliatory, noting that Vallas did "a very good job" as CEO. He gave Vallas an overall grade of "B," which he said would've been higher "if not for the deficit."
So it's important that the mayor and new CEO work together. And it is important that the next mayor provide the funding required to help take the district to the next level.
Vallas will be missed. But his replacement must stabilize the reforms now in place. *