Helen Gym, Philadelphia’s leading activist for public education, complains that the School Reform Commission wrongly canceled the teachers’ contract while failing to fight for funding from the state.
She writes:
“Recently, I visited my brother-in-law at Radnor High School and was privileged to see him teach his ninth-grade English/civics class. When I walked in, his students were engaged in a debate about Plato and the notion of dissent versus rule of law in Athenian society. The students had finished reading John Stuart Mill and were getting their first papers back for revision. It was October 2nd.
“A few days later, I attended a parent meeting at Central High School, one of the city’s premier institutions. Dozens of ninth graders had spent their school year with substitute teachers who changed every week. The substitutes were put in place to relieve teachers leading classrooms with 40, 50, or even more students. For these ninth graders, school didn’t really start until October 8th, when permanent teachers were finally assigned to them.
“This is what a teacher’s contract was supposed to prevent.
“And it’s why the School Reform Commission’s move last week to tear up that contract is about far more than the dishonest suggestion of “shared sacrifice” and health care contributions.
“In an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer last Sunday, SRC Chair Bill Green asked you to believe that the SRC made a necessary move to reverse devastating budget cuts from the last two years. It’s disappointing that some of his central facts are plain wrong (just read this Public School Notebook article on the inaccuracies by the SRC and District). It’s ironic that Green claims any measure of high ground, when the SRC ambushed its own staff and the public in a backdoor move meant to limit public dialogue.
“As a member of City Council, Bill Green was both vocal and active in helping us document the devastating impact of the state purposefully underfunding Philadelphia’s public schools. The District could have sued for full, fair funding. They chose not to. Instead they are in court suing to offset Harrisburg’s failures by taking money from the very people we depend on to care for our children and keep their schools open and safe – and grossly overstating the difference the money will make.”
Read the article for the links and more about the looting of the Philadelphia public schools.
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/10/21/helen-gym-response-bill-green-src-inquirer-op-ed/#A62jCHzpgzq18oCe.99
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is the same rhetoric used by conservatives to get people to buy into proposed changes to Medicare and Social Security. In plain English it means, you 99% must sacrifice more so us 1% can get even more of the pie. If we can spend trillions on meaningless wars, we can spend money on education to invest in the future of our country. Our society can afford to fund education; it’s all about what our priorities are. What we cannot afford to do is stand by and watch as the rich dismantle public education. It is the strength of American society. Horace Mann knew this, and we need to remember this too. The children of Philadelphia deserve an opportunity. I grew up in Philly. My brother attended Central, and I went to Girls High, both magnet schools, before we even had the term. Philadelphia is the cradle of liberty. I hope Tom Corbett gets the boot so sanity can return to the Keystone state.
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SRC’s leader Bill Green never knows–and he certainly would never care– that some Philadelphia schools today have more than 50 students in one classroom. The word “sacrifice” flies in the face of Tom Corbett’s mouthpiece.
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