Girard's school spirit

Stephen Girard, the French-born Philadelphia banker who rescued the United States from insolvency during the War of 1812, may well be protecting another legacy from beyond the grave. As The Inquirer reported this week, a judge has found that Girard's last testament, "the most litigated will in history," expressly forbids a radical retreat from his namesake boarding school's mission. Orphans' Court Judge Joseph D. O'Keefe's ruling constitutes a rebuke of Girard College's stewardship that was unexpected but not unwarranted.

In an attempt to address serious financial difficulties facing the school, which serves needy children from first through 12th grade, its management had proposed the dramatic and disturbing step of eliminating its residential program and high school. The court's decision presents an opportunity for a restructuring that relies less on reducing the school's services to children and more on correcting deficiencies in its adult oversight.

Childless Girard, who accumulated one of the greatest fortunes in American history, dedicated much of his wealth to founding a boarding school for poor white Philadelphia orphans on a walled Fairmount campus. Over time, the law and the courts have allowed appropriate modifications to his wishes, expanding the school's enrollment to girls, minorities, and children of single parents. However, O'Keefe ruled that housing students and educating them until they reach college age are fundamental to the mission laid out in Girard's will.

The value of the Girard trust's investments in coal, real estate, and securities has fluctuated widely over the decades and centuries, and the last recession did significant damage. But the trust that funds Girard has weathered the Great Depression and other reversals of fortune primarily through adjustments to the school's enrollment, which has swung from fewer than 100 to as many as 1,700, a prospect that the financier's will envisioned.

In arguing that more drastic maneuvers are necessary, Girard's current administrators have cast themselves as victims of outside forces such as the downturn and the natural-gas boom. But they have not grappled with the role they and their predecessors played in the school's tribulations. Take, for instance, the complex financial contracts that restrict the trust's ability to lower its borrowing costs. Or consider that although Girard spends more than $40,000 per student, only a third of its graduates obtain a college degree within six years, and not even half that many meet standard college-readiness measures.

Philadelphia's Board of Directors of City Trusts, controlled by politicians and the politically connected, retains responsibility for Girard's management. But as the judge noted, it has little to no expertise in education administration. Meanwhile, Girard's alumni and student representatives, who opposed the rejected restructuring, have been given only marginal roles in the school's oversight.

More inclusive and informed management won't solve all of Girard College's financial problems. But if its leadership remains fundamentally unchanged, the current crisis certainly won't be the last.