Hartford Hires E.A.I. To Run Entire District

By Peter Schmidt

The Hartford, Conn., school system has turned itself over to a private company.

Under a contract approved by the school board last week, Education Alternatives Inc. will manage every facet of the district's schools. The unprecedented contract entrusts the for-profit, Minneapolis-based company with managing the district's 32 schools and its annual budget of some $200 million.

"We are absolutely convinced that the current way of operating our schools does not work and cannot work," said Edward J. Carroll, a member of the Hartford board who voted with the 6-to-3...