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(CNN) -- Education, business and government have engaged in plenty of sparring over the state of public schools and the best ways to fix them. But what would happen if these interests worked together to address the problem?It's a a concept that's being put to the test in a city better known for its shuffleboard than its chalkboards. When he was first elected mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2001, Rick Baker thought that this would be an approach worth trying. A former president of the Chamber of Commerce, Baker believes that business has a vested interest in education. "When a business thinks about coming into your city, their first question is 'What are the schools like?' because their future employees will come out of those schools, and their children will go to those schools," said Baker. "When someone is thinking about buying a house in one of my neighborhoods, the first thing they ask is 'what school will my child go to, and is it a good school?'" Baker started by implementing Doorways Scholarships. Sixth-graders who are on free or reduced lunch programs can earn college scholarships by maintaining a "C" average and a good attendance record, staying away from crime and drugs, and working with a mentor. At first, the mayor asked city government staff to mentor the students. But as the program grew, Baker called on the business community to get involved. Its response was strong. In 2003, Baker started the Corporate Partners program, matching nine corporations to nine middle schools in St. Petersburg. The schools got mentors and funding for basic supplies and computers. Corporations got the satisfaction of being part of a bigger cause, and their employees established relationships with the kids they mentored. The idea caught on fast, and more businesses signed up. To date, the mayor's office has helped raise private funds for 700 Doorways Scholarships and trained over 1,000 mentors to work in the schools. The Corporate Partners program includes more than 70 businesses, at least one for each of the 47 public schools in St. Petersburg. A bigger scale The partnerships haven't stopped there. PASS, or Partnership to Advance School Success, is the newest addition to what is now known as the Mayor's Mentors and More program. The idea is to bring together business leaders, a school principal and an educational coach in a three-year commitment to improve a low-performing school. Each participating business contributes $75,000 or $100,000 directly to a school. The contribution is matched by the state. Together, school and business leaders develop a strategic plan to guide their investment of time and resources. Each plan is customized for that school's specific needs. For example, a school with low math scores might use its resources for instructional software to improve student performance in that subject. Model for success Six years ago, Mt. Vernon Elementary was a low-performing school. It became the first St. Petersburg school to get a PASS partner, Raymond James Financial. Raymond James has contributed money, tutors and mentors, and has supported Mt. Vernon for more than five years. The usual commitment under PASS is three. When Mt. Vernon began participating in PASS, the school's leadership team knew the school needed computers and software. "We were really lacking in technology at the time," said Mt. Vernon principal Peggy Pearson. School administrators and company representatives developed a plan to guide resources that included computer hardware and software, mentors, tutors, teacher and student incentives, and increased parental involvement. "If you can get the parents in, they will listen and they will take our guidance on what we want them to do with the students at home," said Pearson. The school has held free or low-cost dinners to get parents to attend workshops and meetings, and the approach has worked. Pearson says turnout has gone from about 20 parents to more than 200. She cites the increased parental involvement as a key factor in the surge in student achievement. Results and rewards The turnaround was so dramatic that Mayor Baker cites the school as "a national model for success." The Mt. Vernon plan has become the foundation for other PASS schools' plans.Florida grades its Mt. Vernon Elementary has earned an "A" rating for three consecutive years. Six years ago, it was a "D" school. "When you're a 'D' school, you go to meetings and hang your head," said Pearson. "Now we're so proud, we hold our heads high...It's unbelievable, the requests to come to our school." Baker's push for school improvement seems to be paying off beyond Mt. Vernon's success. In 2001, only 27 percent of the city's public schools earned an "A" or "B." Today, 63 percent, or 26 of the 41 graded schools in St. Petersburg, are "A" or "B" schools. Baker believes in rewards. "So often we grade the schools and we beat on them, but what do we do if they do well? We're rewarding them and making a big deal of it," he said. The mayor's Top Apple awards go to schools that increase their performance by a letter grade. Students get gift certificates and season passes from local merchants. The school gets a banner to hang in the cafeteria, and the corporate sponsor gets bragging rights. Baker says that one proud businessman called the mayor's office to make sure his school got a banner immediately after test scores were announced. Supporters and detractors Not everyone is a fan of corporate-school partnerships. Gary Ruskin is executive director of CommercialAlert.org, a national group whose mission is to keep the commercial culture "within its proper sphere." Ruskin doesn't believe that businesses belong in schools. Commenting on Mayor Baker's initiative, Ruskin said, "In effect, he's selling St. Pete's students to corporate advertisers, and that's wrong. The purpose of school is to teach kids to read, write and think -- not to hawk products at them." Ruskin acknowledges that schools are caught in a financial pinch, but suggests there are other ways to raise the funding they need to improve student achievement. "The answer is not to put our kids up for sale," he said. "The answer is for school leaders to band together and demand revocation of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and send the money back to schools, police, fire departments, and others who are begging for funds." Ruskin adds that financing education "should not be the role of companies who need PR." Jean C. Marks, principal of Sawgrass Lake Elementary in St. Petersburg, finds fault with this line of thinking. Her school's primary sponsor is the local Coca-Cola bottling company. The company provides bottled water to her students during standardized testing -- something it has done for three years -- and supplies beverages for meetings and school gatherings, as well as mentors for Sawgrass Lake's students. She believes that corporations get something else from their involvement in education. "They're not doing this to promote their products," said Marks. "They're doing it because they know it's important to have good schools in the community so that more businesses are attracted here." Marks argues that participating in schools and serving on advisory councils gives the company "a broader idea of what goes on in public education." As for the mayor, he says that if there is criticism of his approach, he hasn't heard it. But with so many other municipal headaches, why concentrate on education at all, especially since St. Petersburg's schools are the county's responsibility? "We're past the time when mayors can sit back and think it's someone else's responsibility to take care of schools. We have to be actively involved in helping to improve the schools, and this is what we are doing," said Baker.
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