Political Science, Law, Corruption
Professor
BA - Harvard College
BA - Oxford University
JD - Harvard Law School
PUBLICATIONS
"Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools." Boston: Northeast University Press, 2004.
"Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need," by William Ouchi with Lydia Segal. New York. Simon and Schuster, 2003.
"Principal Reforms a Good Start," op-ed by Lydia Segal and William Ouchi. New York Daily News, September 9, 2003, p. 27.
"The Impact of Organization on the Performance of Nine School Systems: Lessons for California," by William Ouchi, Bruce Cooper, and Lydia Segal. California Policy Options, UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research, (Winter 2003): 125-140.
"Roadblocks in Reforming Corrupt Agencies: the Case of the New York City School Custodians," Public Adminstration Review (July/August 2002) 62: 445-460.
"Corruption Moves to the Center: An Analysis of New York's 1996 School Governance Law." Harvard Journal on Legislation 36(2) (Summer 1999) 323-367.
"Can We Fight the New Tammany Hall?: Difficulties of Prosecuting Political Patronage and Suggestions for Reform." Rutgers Law Review 50 (2) (February 1998): 507-562.
"The Pitfalls of Political Decentralization and Proposals for Reform: The Case of the New York City Schools." Public Administration Review 57(2) (March/April 1997): 141-49.
"When Learning Comes Last." City Journal 6(2) (Spring 1996): 11.
"Who Really Runs the Schools?" City Journal 5(1) (Winter 1995): 46-55.
"Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools"
by
Lydia Segal
In "Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools," Lydia Segal draws on 10 years of undercover investigation and research in over five urban school districts, including the three most centralized, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and two most decentralized, Houston and Edmonton, Canada, to offer the guidebook to corruption, waste, and abuse in public school systems. Anyone interested in curbing waste, pushing more money into classrooms, and establishing transparent, accountable schools, should read this book.
Billions of dollars are poured into urban schools every year -- $13.3 billion into the New York City school system; $7 billion into Los Angeles' schools; and $3.6 billion into Chicago's schools. Yet many wonder where the money goes as pupils sit on broken chairs in dilapidated classrooms struggling to learn without library books, working computers, and toilet paper.
Segal, an undercover school investigator turned law professor, has written the first book that shows in vivid detail how waste, fraud, and "legalized graft" embedded in the operation of school bureaucracies siphon hundreds of millions of dollars away from services for children, distort educational priorities, and block initiatives. Corroborated by 52 pages of notes and references, her descriptions of gross abuse fill readers with outrage and incite a demand for change. The need for action could not be more urgent, as school systems that score lowest on standardized tests tend to have the biggest criminal records and the most payroll padding.
The problem, Segal argues, is not usually bad people, but a bad system that focuses on process at the expense of results. School systems that accumulate layers of bureaucracy and rules became so clogged and opaque that they create the worst of two worlds: crooks can bilk the system because the top cannot see what they are up to; while those who care about children must break the rules to get their jobs done. In fact, school systems often punish those with good motivations and then allow criminals to get away.
Top-down rules intended to stop fraud and waste invite these very problems. To fix leaky toilets, principals have to pay workers under the table because submitting work orders through headquarters, with all its checks, could take years. It takes so long to pay vendors that some must pay bribes just to get paid on time. Meanwhile, administrators following rules to curb waste spend thousands of dollars hunting down checks as small as $25.
What makes Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools a must-read is not only its fascinating details of systemic wrong-doing, but also its reform proposals that are based on the proven track records of school systems across North America that have reduced waste and pushed more resources into schools. Distilling what school systems like Houston and Edmonton, Canada, have done, Segal advocates new forms of oversight that do not clog up schools, and empowering principals by giving them "autonomy in exchange for performance accountability" as part of a bold, far-reaching plan to reclaim our schools.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK
"Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools" puts the spotlight on a little-known problem in education: the pilfering of resources that should be going to the classroom. The book is well-written and well-documented."DIANE RAVITCH,US Assistant Secretary of Education, 91-93.
"Splendid… richly documented… Few people are as well situated to tell the story... Ms. Segal proposes a number of sensible reforms." SOL STERN, WALL STREET JOURNAL
“The definitive book on waste, fraud, and corruption in our public schools. [Lydia Segal’s] account is riveting, full of colorful examples that make one want to cry, boil with anger, or both. Segal provides a surprising, counter-intuitive explanation for why…most attempts at closer control produce exactly the opposite result. Do you want to know why our schools don't have enough money to educate children properly--Segal explains why: they waste it!"
WILLIAM OUCHI, Professor, UCLA School of Management.
"Lydia Segal presents a knowledgeable guide to the manifold types of corruption and waste in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago and proposes institutional reforms that do seem to be feasible and offer hope of radically reducing opportunities for corruption."
NATHAN GLAZER Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
"A very important, scrupulously documented book that should move decent citizens to deep indignation and lead them to support the sorely-needed remedial actions that Lydia Segal recommends." GILBERT GEIS, Past President, American Society of Criminology
"Splendid. . . Will stand for many years as the leading work on the pathology of the urban school bureaucracy." JAMES JACOBS, Professor, New YorkUniversity Law School
"Ms. Segal's book will change forever the way we perceive principals, superintendents, or anyone who demands 'more money for public schools'. Public school reform must start with this book." BETSY COMBIER, President, the E-Accountability Foundation.
"As timely as it is remarkable." BRUCE COOPER, Chairman, Fordham University Ed School
Lydia G. Segal is Associate Professor of Criminal Law and Public Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. She served as special counsel to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District. Segal co-authored (with William Ouchi) Making Schools Work, and has published extensively in academic journals.
Available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and bookstores.
Northeastern University Press, 2004
To schedule an interview, contact Betsy Combier at 212-794-8902, solarmedia@aol.com or Lydia Segal at LydiaSegal@yahoo.com, 917 459-5581
