Joel Klein | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education | |
| In office August 19, 2002 – January 1, 2011 | |
| Appointed by | Michael Bloomberg |
| Preceded by | Harold Levy |
| Succeeded by | Cathie Black |
| United States Assistant Attorney General for theAntitrust Division | |
| In office 1996–2000 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Anne Bingaman |
| Succeeded by | Douglas Melamed |
| Deputy White House Counsel | |
| In office July 1993 – March 1995 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Vince Foster |
| Succeeded by | James Castello |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1946-10-25)October 25, 1946 (age 79) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Nicole Seligman |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
Joel Irwin Klein (born October 25, 1946) is an American lawyer and school superintendent. He was theChancellor of theNew York City Department of Education, the largestpublic school system in the United States, from 2002 to 2011. He previously served as theAssistant Attorney General of theAntitrust Division of theU.S. Department of Justice from 1996 to 2000 during the administration of PresidentBill Clinton.
New York magazine ranked Klein as one of the most influential people in public education.[1] Klein had never obtained the common formal credentials that one would have to take a leadership role in a public school system, and Klein had a short duration of teaching experience.[2]
Klein grew up inNew York City and attended public schools, graduating fromWilliam Cullen Bryant High School inQueens in 1963. He attendedColumbia University, graduatingmagna cum laude andPhi Beta Kappa.[3][4] He received his J.D. degree fromHarvard Law School, again graduatingmagna cum laude, in 1971. He then clerked for Chief JudgeDavid L. Bazelon on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1973 until 1974, before then clerking for U.S. Supreme Court JusticeLewis Powell.[5]
In 1975, Klein joined the legal team of theWashington, DC, non-profitMental Health Law Project. The MHLP was an independent non-profit organization that brought class-action suits to establish rights for mentally and developmentally disabled clients. In that capacity, Klein specialized in constitutional and health-care.[6] After working there for a year, he went into private practice, working for five years before founding a law firm with several partners. In the 1990s, Klein served in theWhite House Counsel's office under PresidentBill Clinton, before being appointed to theUnited States Department of Justice. There, he was appointedUnited States Assistant Attorney General for theAntitrust Division, and in this capacity he was the lead prosecutor in the antitrust caseUnited States v. Microsoft.Prior to his appointment to chancellor in 2002[7] by MayorMichael Bloomberg, Klein wascounsel toBertelsmann, an international media group.
Klein was rumored to be one ofBarack Obama's candidates forSecretary of Education.[8] Ultimately, the position went to the chief executive officer ofChicago Public Schools,Arne Duncan, then to New York State Education CommissionerJohn King Jr.
In 1998, before Klein became Chancellor, the New York City Board of Education transferred responsibility for school safety to theNew York City Police Department.[9] Klein has been criticized for not seeking to alter this arrangement or to curb the conduct of the Police Department's school safety agents in the face of allegations of abuse.[9][10] Klein has praised the work of the school-safety agents in contributing to a decrease in crime in the public schools.[11]
Despite their opposing positions in theJustice Departmentantitrust case againstMicrosoft, Klein was able to work with the Gates Foundation to fund the creation of smaller schools in New York City. At the 43 small high schools funded by theGates Foundation graduation rates are 73% compared to 53% at the schools they replaced.[12][13] The researchers only examined schools selectively; for example, 33 small schools were omitted from the analysis.[14] According to Bob Herbert, Bill Gates, speaking about the national movement for smaller schools, stated in 2008, that “Simply breaking up existing schools into smaller units often did not generate the gains we were hoping for.”.[15] A series of analyses by the research institute MDRC found that the "Small Schools of Choice" (SSC) had "marked increases in progress toward graduation and in graduation rates" for three successive cohorts of students analyzed (students who entered the SSCs in 2005, 2006, and 2007) compared with other schools, including students of color, compared with students of color at similar schools.[16] (Small Schools of Choice are academically non-selective, small in size, and were structured to be a reasonable choice for students of varying academic backgrounds.)[16]
In 2004, a controversy beset Klein's administration, as two members of his staff—deputy chancellor Diana Lam and lawyer Chad Vignola—both resigned amid accusations of nepotism; she was accused of helping her husband gain employment in the system without followingconflicts of interest procedures, and Vignola was accused of trying to cover it up.[17][18] A report by Schools Investigator Richard Condon found Lam helped her husband get two jobs improperly, and criticized Vignola for falsely claiming that the husband was a volunteer rather than a hired employee.[19]
In 2005, Klein firedColumbia University professorRashid Khalidi from the teacher training program, reportedly because of Khalidi's political views. After the controversial decision, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger spoke out on Khalidi's behalf, writing: "The department's decision to dismiss Professor Khalidi from the program was wrong and violatesFirst Amendment principles.... The decision was based solely on his purported political views and was made without any consultation and apparently without any review of the facts."[20] The program's creator Mark Willner stated that (Khalidi) "spoke on geography and demography," and that "There was nothing controversial, nothing political."[20]
In 2007, Klein installed a computer system called The Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS), at a cost of $95 million, with records on 1 million current and former students. Teachers and parents were able to track student progress with the system. After Klein left his job as chancellor to work at the News Corp., a company owned by the News Corp. got a contract for nearly $10 million to manage the system in 2012. Subsequent News Corp. contracts were worth millions more. Klein denied a conflict of interest. Finally, in 2014, the Education Department decided to abandon the system, due to its high cost, limited functionality, and little use by parents and staff.[21][22]
In 2007, the Klein launched a major redesign of the formula used to fund schools. Previously, funding for teachers had been based on the salaries of the teachers in the building, leading to more funding for schools in schools with students from more affluent backgrounds, as teachers tended to stay at those schools longer (and be relatively better paid than teachers with less experience). Under Klein's "Fair Student Funding" program, schools were given amounts of money based on the enrollment and demographics of students, such as special education and low-income. This eventually accounted for 66% of all funding to schools.[23][24]
During the Bloomberg Administration, whose educational legacy was largely determined by Klein's chancellorship, graduation rates in New York City went up for all ethnic groups, although the gap between graduation rates between ethnic groups remained stubbornly persistent. From 2005 to 2012, the graduation rate for white students rose from 64% to 78%, for Asian-American students from 63% to 82%, and for Black students from 40% to 60%.[24] Overall, high school graduation rates increased from 54% in 2004 to almost 75% in 2013.[25]
Klein played an important role in changing the way that literacy was taught in New York schools.[26] In 2003, he introduced a "balanced literacy" approach that was controversial among education experts who said the approach was unsupported by research.[26] The approach de-emphasized direct instruction, in particular phonics instruction. No curricula existed at the time for this approach, leadingLucy Calkins to write a textbook on the subject in three weeks ahead of the 2003–2004 school year.[26] In 2022, theNew Yorker reported that New York was shifting away from this approach to literacy amid controversies over low literacy rates.[26]
On November 9, 2010, Bloomberg announced that Klein would resign as chancellor and would take a position as an executive vice president forNews Corporation. Klein's date of departure was not immediately clear but it was later announced that he would be gone at the end of the year.[27] He was replaced byCathie Black, chairman ofHearst Magazines and former president ofUSA Today, on January 3, 2011.[28]
On July 6, 2011,Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation[29] and the company's CEO, announced that Joel Klein would "provide important oversight and guidance" in the internal investigation of phone hacking atNews of the World.[30] Klein and fellow directorViet D. Dinh took over the investigation from News International UK Chief ExecutiveRebekah Brooks, whose own involvement in thephone hacking scandal made her unable to continue as an impartial investigator.[31]
Since joining News Corp, Klein has recruited at least two other executives from the New York City Department of Education. In February 2011, NYCDoE Communications DirectorNatalie Ravitz announced that she would be joining News Corp as Klein's chief of staff. According toGothamSchools, a nonprofit, non-partisan news website that reports on the New York City schools, "Ravitz is following a well-worn path from the department to NewsCorp: Ex-schools chief Joel Klein, who was chancellor when Ravitz was hired, now heads the company's growing education division. Last summer, Klein picked Kristen Kane, the department's former chief operating officer, to become the division'sCOO. He also acquired Wireless Generation, the technology company that developed and managed ARIS, the city's school data warehouse."[32]
In 2016, Klein became a "top executive" with New York health insurance start-upOscar Health, which has a focus on technology.[33] In 2021, while still at Oscar, Klein joined the board ofJuul Labs, a tobacco company.[34]
Klein is married toNicole Seligman, general counsel toHoward Stringer ofSony Corp.[35] Seligman was on the legal team of then-PresidentBill Clinton during impeachment proceedings in theUnited States Senate.[36]
But the evidence suggests that our most influential educator is a lawyer who only very briefly taught in public school and never had the formal credentials to lead a public school system.
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| Preceded by | United States Assistant Attorney General for theAntitrust Division 1996–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of New York City Schools 2002–2011 | Succeeded by |
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