Wichita ? Edison Schools, the nation’s largest for-profit manager of public schools, said Thursday that it expected to stop managing two public schools here next summer.

The company said it did not want to pull out of its seven-year association with Wichita public schools, but feared the district would find private management too expensive in the face of state education funding cuts.

The school board has scheduled a meeting for Monday to discuss the issue, but Supt. Winston Brooks has already said he thought the district should end the relationship.

“I personally believe we can offer as good a service to those schools for less,” Brooks said last week.

Edison said both schools ” Dodge-Edison and Jardine-Edison ” were losing money despite strong academic success and parental support.

“We are disappointed that we are unable to continue our relationship with the Wichita public schools,” said Chris Cerf, the president and chief of operations for New York City-based Edison. “We have spent more than seven years serving the students and families of Dodge-Edison and Jardine-Edison schools, and they have both been academic successes.”

However, Cerf said, “Despite their strong achievement gains and broad parental support, reductions in Kansas educational spending are causing the district to seek every possible savings.”

Cerf said Edison had been advised it would be asked to continue to operate the schools until July 1, 2003.

“We leave these schools in an improved state, including a major investment in infrastructure in essential areas such as technology, curriculum and facility improvement,” Cerf said. “We believe that our schools have made a positive difference to the educational opportunities and outcomes not only for our Wichita students and their families, but for the entire community.”

In January, the district reclaimed two Edison-managed elementary schools because of high teacher turnover, declining enrollment and disappointing test scores. Both are now magnet schools run by the district.

Edison manages 150 full-year schools and 178 summer schools with a total enrollment of 110,000 students.