Charting a New Course in Education How Management Skills Are Setting Education on the Right Track
Could you lead an organization with a $1.8 billion budget? With 215,000 underage customers? In 276 locations? With 22,000 employees? Paul Vallas can.
Vallas, CEO of the Philadelphia School District, presented his vision for the retooling of education in the city to more than 100 students in a Leadership Lecture on January 22. He urged the audience of Wharton MBAs and students from Penn’s schools of education and social work to get involved. The University already participates in running a mini-district in West Philadelphia. Business skills, accountability, and action are what will make his plan into reality.
Paul Vallas, CEO of the Philadelphia School District, presented his vision for the retooling of education in the city to more than 100 students in a Leadership Lecture on January 22.
A former C- student who now specializes in fixing broken school systems, Vallas defines this vision not from the traditional educational culture plaguing many older cities. Prior to holding a similar position with the Chicago public school system, his background was in public sector management. He has served as Chicago’s budget director and revenue director and headed the Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission. And it shows in his approach to educational reform.
As a manager, Vallas had to demand accountability from municipal offices. He demands the same from elementary schools, charter schools, and magnet schools. Poor school facilities, automatic student promotion, and budget deficits have no place in the Philadelphia school system he wants to see. Vallas believes that educational reform is the real national security challenge facing the U.S. and that Wharton students can play a part in its implementation.
“Students always express a strong interest in having speakers who have leadership experience in fields that are non-traditional for Wharton students” says Kenna Klosterman, WG’04, a member of the Leadership Lectures Committee. “So many students here are not only interested in becoming leaders in business but also in their communities, and many plan to merge the two. Seeing someone like Paul Vallas do just that is inspiring.”
Life on the battlefront is hard for students, teachers, and parents. Curricular reforms, programs for nontraditional students, and better facilities will go a long way to getting schools out of the test-score rut they’re in. The vision, for Vallas, is the easy part. The difficult part is actually doing it.
Wharton students realize that a fulfilling career need not be confined exclusively to consulting and I-banking. Their interest in speakers like Vallas and in programs like the Social Impact Management (SIM) Initiative reflects a sense of the bigger picture in life. Their management skills can be put to use in the nonprofit arena as well.
“You have to have a financial blueprint,” concluded Vallas, “to operationalize the vision.”
