In addition, work rules no longer are negotiable and privatization has been widely adopted. With one year still to run on the current contract, negotiations already have been completed for an additional four years through 2003. Standards Academic standards have been raised and made uniform, and social promotion has been abolished. Although education experts predicted those changes would lead to a dramatic increase in the dropout rate, student attendance, achievement, and behavior all have significantly improved. There is no tenure for administrators and no golden parachutes, even for Vallas himself, who serves at the pleasure of the mayor and can be replaced at any time if he is not successful.
Principals have four-year contracts that allow for direct accountability.
Teachers have tenure but can be transferred, and the union cannot negotiate work rules. The staff of such schools are laid off but may reapply for employment, with hiring decisions made on an individual basis. New support programs cover a wide variety of activities, including one for early childhood and another that provides pregnant teenagers with information on prenatal care, nutrition, parenting, and abstinence-focused sex education. Studies showed that, prior to implementing the abstinence program, pregnant teenagers who dropped out of school had, on average, two children within three years, and three within five. To address the consequences of abolishing social promotion, the district has restructured and further emphasized an intensive summer school program, which now reaches 180,000 of the district's 433,000 students.