Pittsburgh school board members voted 8-1 last night to provide management services to the foundering Duquesne City School District, but the move came with criticism for the state, for the school districts neighboring Duquesne and for the way Pittsburgh Public Schools officials negotiated the management agreement.

The one-year agreement calls for Pittsburgh Superintendent Mark Roosevelt and two or three of his top aides to spend about 5 percent of their time overseeing Duquesne, which has severe academic and financial problems. Duquesne would pay the Pittsburgh district about $500,000 for the work.

Duquesne's state-appointed board of control approved the proposal Tuesday. The state Department of Education also must give its consent.

Pittsburgh board member Theresa Colaizzi voted against the agreement, saying she objected to the lack of public scrutiny.

Because the proposal was negotiated behind closed doors and hasn't been released, she said, residents were deprived of an opportunity to comment. Ms. Colaizzi noted that board members weren't even given copies of the agreement before voting last night.

District Solicitor Ira Weiss said that was because some details remained under negotiation at 4 p.m. yesterday. But Mr. Weiss said the key points, made known to board members in private meetings last week, wouldn't change.

Member Randall Taylor said he objected to the lack of public oversight but supported the agreement to help Duquesne's 800 students.

"These are very difficult times for the people of Duquesne. I feel for them," he said.

Mr. Taylor called Duquesne's faltering finances a "sad indictment" of the way the state funds school districts and noted that Pittsburgh school officials, wrestling with a $40 million deficit for 2007, "could find ourselves in the same predicament in a very short period of time."

The state had asked for Pittsburgh's help with Duquesne, saying the oversight would forestall cuts in personnel and programs in the smaller district.

Mr. Taylor said the state's willingness to put Mr. Roosevelt in charge of Duquesne shows it's not interested in taking over the Pittsburgh district for financial or academic reasons. Mr. Roosevelt has cited the threat of a state takeover, as early as September, in pushing through a turnaround agenda.

The fate of the Duquesne district -- predominately poor, low-achieving and black -- raised thorny political and racial issues.

Pittsburgh board member Daniel Romaniello Sr. said it was sad that the state had to ask Pittsburgh to help when districts nearer Duquesne should have felt a moral obligation to lend a hand.

"I want to commend the superintendent and his staff for stepping up and doing what other school districts didn't have the backbone to do," he said.

The district would incur no legal liability for helping Duquesne, no Duquesne students would be educated in Pittsburgh schools and no Pittsburgh money would be spent on Duquesne students.

Pittsburgh's management fee would come out of a $2 million special appropriation for Duquesne in the state budget. Duquesne also would use some of the money to hire an executive director, who would oversee day-to-day operations and report to Mr. Roosevelt.

Besides providing management for one year, the Pittsburgh district would have to develop a long-term plan for operating Duquesne. The plan could call for Pittsburgh's continued involvement with the district or for a charter school or management company to take over Duquesne.