This just in from a retired Pennsylvania school superintendent:
“Beyond Belief!
“On the August 9 front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Superintendent of Schools makes a desperate last minute plea for adequate funding to give his city’s school children some semblance of equal educational opportunity.
“And the state and city leadership response is similar to the legend of Nero fiddling while Rome is burning.
“Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett is pictured below the Philadelphia school crisis story in the same page one issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer taking a kayak trip, obviously Pennsylvania’s top political priority.
“The Pennsylvania legislature—the largest body of its kind in the USA— sleeps through this tragic episode in its comfortable (or is it racist?) belief that quality education for some of the state’s poorest children is not of their concern.
“The politically appointed School Reform Commission allegedly overseeing Philadelphia’s public schools continues down its clueless road of ineptitude.
“Elected Philadelphia city officials vehemently argue with each other about who is right and who is wrong about what to do while doing nothing.
“All of this is a national disgrace and should be the basis of a civil rights court lawsuit.
“Pathetic episodes of political incompetence are all too common these days in our nation. And this one has the potential to negatively impact the lives of many thousands of innocent children and the future of Philadelphia for years to come.”
Joseph P. Batory
Former Superintendent of Schools, Upper Darby, PA
Philadelphia, PA
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As a teacher of Government, I feel obligated to point out a factual error, where the author posits that Pennsylvania is “the largest body of its kind in the USA.” Not true. The General Assembly in Pennsylvania has 203 in the House and 50 in the Senate for a total of 252. By comparison, the General Courts of New Hampshire has 400 in the House and 24 in the Senate, for a total of 424. In fact, the NH House is the 3rd largest legislative body in the English speaking world, after the House of Commons in the UK and the US House of Representatives.
It was our photo of the day! http://parentsunitedphila.com/2013/08/09/photo-of-the-day-schools-burn-guv-heads-up-river/
While some rearrange the deck chairs, Corbett rows away in the lifeboat.
On a related note, where are all the hedgeucators who like to write checks to TFA et al. “for the children?” Some of them could probably find the cash for Philly schools in their sofa cushions.
They could write those checks, but they won’t. Like Wendy Kopp, there’s ecstatic over the “progress” that destroying the public school system represents.