The City Council sparred with the state-appointed School Reform Commission about how and whether the Philadelphia schools would get enough funding to open in September. Under the current budget, another 1,000 staff may be laid off, and class size will soar over 40.
Neither Governor Corbett NPR the legislature appears willing to help the district, even though they have a constitutional duty to do so.
State leaders are consumed with maintains corporate tax cuts, not saving the children of Pennsylvania.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So Philly teachers will be striking when?
For that matter, we need a nation-wide strike. And not just teachers.
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Thank you, Diane, for being there to highlight what is really happening. The usual MO is to starve urban schools and then say the teachers failed. The real failure is the lack of political will and commitment to social justice to support and improve the schools that serve our most challenged students.
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“. . . even though they have a constitutional duty to do so.”
Constitutional duties?? We don’t need no stinkin constitutional duties!!
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Former City Councilman William Green was appointed by the Governor in March to head the SRC, which is why Green will not pressure the Governor–who is running for reelection–to restore any of the $1billion he slashed from the state education budget his first two years in office.
When Green served on Council, he voted against almost every proposal to increase funding for the schools.
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I would like to hear what those on the ground have to say about this fiasco. It is beyond comprehension how a state and city can allow such a scenario to develop. How much money are the charter cheerers pulling out of the system? How many children are they serving? What are their demographics?
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Why aren’t the parents out in the streets rioting, not protesting, rioting?
Who would tolerate classrooms with 40 students and schools without nurses?
This is beyond unconscionable.
The City of Brotherly Love?!? You’ve got a Friend in Pennsylvania?? What misery.
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PA Governor Corbett sent me reply that was blatantly denying his culpability in the recent death of a student in Jackson Elementary School. My reply is here:
Dear Mr. Governor,
After the recent tragedy, it is doubtful that you have ever acted in the best interests of children. Of course my concern is with the victim’s family right now. They need to know what you are doing to turn your policies around that would prevent this from ever happening again. They need to know their child didn’t die in vain. Unfortunately, it took a tragedy for people to put a spotlight on what has been done through damaging cuts to public education. Of course you’d turn around and blame the teachers associations for “turning it into an opportunity to make a political statement.” Why should you take the blame for the death of a child? For starters, you have done NOTHING to change the underfunding of public education. You have had the authority to make change but you’ve only let bad policies get worse. I hope EVERYONE knows that your continued attack on public employees / schools indeed caused the death of this poor child. You are to blame. Take responsibility for your actions & be a man about it. In fact, do us all a big favor & resign.
K Fox
On May 23, 2014, at 3:35 PM, PA Governor’s Office wrote:
Good Afternoon:
I received your recent correspondence regarding the death of a young child at Andrew Jackson Elementary School in Philadelphia. As a parent and grandparent, I can only imagine how heartbreaking this loss is for the child’s family, classmates, teachers and friends. I offer my sincere condolences to the family of the child, and I want to commend the staff at Jackson Elementary for their prompt response.
As you may know, the Philadelphia School District is following regulations, similar to every other school district in Pennsylvania, for staffing their schools with school nurses. In Philadelphia’s case, as you reference in your email, that nursing decision was made five years ago, prior to me taking office, by the school district administration. Faculty and support staff across the Commonwealth are trained in First Aid/CPR to intervene in case of an emergency – as was done by the staff at Andrew Jackson Elementary School this week.
Putting the safety and educational needs of our students first must continue to be our top priority. There is an appropriate time and place to call for education policy discussions. Right now, our thoughts should be with the child’s family, friends, school and community who have all been through an extremely traumatic situation.
I am deeply troubled that the union leadership of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers – and by extension the American Federation of Teachers – would use the recent tragedy at Jackson Elementary as an opportunity to make a political statement. For more than a year, we all have asked the union leadership – who are disconnected from the great teachers in Philadelphia who are in the classroom every day – to come to the table and engage in meaningful negotiations to assist in the financial recovery of the Philadelphia School District.
The Commonwealth, the School District, the School Reform Commission and City Council are all working to contribute to the success of Philadelphia’s schools and students. I will continue to ask the union leadership to put the children of Philadelphia first and engage in a meaningful dialogue and a shared vision for the future of the children
Sincerely,
Tom Corbett
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