Could this tragic collapse be the harbinger of what is to come for huge, urban, under-performing public school districts nationwide?
The fate of the nation's eighth largest school system hangs in the balance. Over the last thirty-three years, multiple entities have struggled to control an out-of-control school system that was swallowing massive amounts of tax revenue and growing at the teacher, support and administrative ranks on one hand, yet losing enrollments and under-performing at producing literate graduates on the other.
As this article chronicles, in 1981 after a series of devastating strikes by the teacher's union, a panel comprised of state and local appointees took control of Philadelphia's public schools.
Fast forward to 2014. Graduation rates are down, Schools are violent, classroom discipline is out of control, enrollments at traditional schools are flat or declining, while charter school enrollments have quadrupled (A moratorium on the establishment of new charter schools has been established, to boot). residents with the means to do so have enrolled their own children in private schools or they have moved to the suburbs.
Meanwhile, the average teacher salary in this district stands at $71K, with benefits it averages $110K. (These figures represent income levels that are double the median income in Philadelphia) Not too shabby! Generous as it is, however, it is unsustainable. Layoffs are underway again, and as a stop-gap measure to shore up funding, new taxes have been levied on cigarettes and an added sales tax has been levied. The district still faces an $8 Million shortfall.
So an historic, controversial decision had to be made. The contract with the union was terminated. Teachers will now have to contribute a small amount toward their own health care plans (they previously contributed $0) and pay raises are being held in abeyance. These commonsense measures that the rest of us have known as reality for the last two decades, applied to these employees, are now termed to be "Union Busting" What a joke. And what a mess.
