Educational Management Organizations

Educational management organizations (EMOs) are independent, for–profit companies that provide whole school management to public schools. The term EMO, coined by Wall Street analysts, is intended to reflect similarities between such companies and health maintenance organizations (HMOs). An EMO is responsible for all aspects of a school, as it shoulders responsibility for an entire school's operations and services that include, but are not limited to, the following:

EMOs fund their operations primarily through the use of public tax dollars, the same source as that utilized by other public schools. EMOs manage either charter or district public schools.

The use of an educational management organization by a school represents a paradigm change from the traditional modus operandi of public school management. The operational responsibility of schools has traditionally rested with a school district office that reports directly to a publicly elected school board. This board has direct responsibility for the oversight of district personnel. [Page 305]School officials are hired by the school district. In contrast, an EMO is a third–party, independent company that hires its own staff with its own approach to school management and is free from any direct oversight as to how it operates.

The rationale for an EMO is that such a company will provide innovative management personnel who possess the pedagogical, financial, and operational expertise to create a performance–driven school culture. This is what private companies do. The school is organized around an educational and organizational model to achieve the strategic goals of the school. The EMO applies proven business practices it believes will result in excellent educational programs that are operated efficiently and will result in enhanced high student performance. It is the potential for these results that encourages public schools to make the paradigm change.