Klein's Five Years

Sunday will mark five years on the job for the city's schools chancellor, Joel Klein, which might not seem long in the private sector but in the turbulent political seas of New York City school administration is some kind of record. The results are starting to show. The city's high school graduation rate is up to the highest levels in decades, and pass rates on standardized reading and math tests are up. Forty-five new charter schools have been opened in the past five years, and 286 new schools in all. Mr. Klein says he has diverted $350 million a year "from the bureaucracy to the schools," and stepped up "pay for performance," especially for principals.

The achievements are being recognized in national competitions like that run by the Broad Foundation, in which New York City has been a finalist for three years running. And more change is on the way. In September or October of this year, the city will rank every public school with a letter grade, bringing a new level of accountability and transparency to the system.

Mr. Klein is the first to acknowledge that there is plenty of room for additional improvement. Too many students are still failing or dropping out. And the advances that have been made in the public schools so far make all the more puzzling the Bloomberg administration's opposition to allowing private and religious schools an even playing field, via vouchers, to compete for students from all financial backgrounds. But those reservations notwithstanding, it's not too early to congratulate both Mr. Klein and Mayor Bloomberg for overcoming what Mr. Klein calls the "politics of paralysis," and for bringing meaningful positive change to a system rife with entrenched educrats and other special interests. Mayor Giuliani was said to have shown that New York City was manageable. Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Klein are well on their way to showing that the public schools are manageable.