Archives for category: Philadelphia
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Bruce Baker: Why So Much Ignorance about School Funding?

By dianeravitch
June 25, 2013 //
27

Bruce Baker has a fabulous new post in which he roasts the vapid comments by pundits and others who are utterly ignorant about school funding.

It starts like this and gets better and better:

“On a daily basis, I continue to be befuddled by the ignorant bluster, intellectual laziness and mathematical and financial ineptitude of those who most loudly opine on how to fix America’s supposed dreadful public education system. Common examples that irk me include taking numbers out context to make them seem shocking, like this Newark example (some additional context), or the repeated misrepresentation of per pupil spending in New York State.”

The immediate issue is Philadelphia but the analysis applies across the nation.

Categories Budget Cuts, Philadelphia

Philadelphia: Blame Teachers First Is a Bad Strategy

By dianeravitch
June 20, 2013 //
4

Philadelphia, which has been under state control for a dozen years, has a massive deficit. Governor Corbettt imposed draconian budget cuts when he took office.

The state’s solution to Philadelphia’s fiscal crisis: strip the schools bare. Lay off thousands of teachers, gut the arts and sports, libraries and guidance counselors. This hurts students. Which suburb would tolerate the gutting of its public schools?

That is not “shared sacrifice,” as Daniel Denvir explains in this article.

He writes:

“The School District is demanding $133 million in labor concessions to plug its $304 million budget gap. That’s more than twice as much as it requested from the city, and $13 million more than what it’s seeking from the state — which cut nearly $1 billion from school funding statewide (that’s you, Gov. Tom Corbett) despite its constitutional obligation to fund public education and, critically, its direct control of city schools for the past decade.”

And more:

“Philadelphia teachers are paid 19 percent less than their counterparts in suburban Bucks and Montgomery counties — counterparts who typically work in schools with less violence and less need. Relentless teacher-bashing paints incompetent educators as the root of big-city school woes, and offers high-stakes standardized tests and union-busting as the only solutions. But this is backwards: It is the failure to value teaching as a first-class profession that makes recruiting and retaining good educators a bigger problem than firing the bad ones. Lower pay will make it all the more difficult for Philly.”

Categories Budget Cuts, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Publisher Is Not a Funder of Pro-Voucher PennCAN

By dianeravitch
June 19, 2013 //
6

Here is a correction I just received.

Please read the article, especially the correction at the end, which says:

Correction: We initially reported that Robert J. Hall, publisher at Interstate General Media, parent company of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com, was a PennCAN funder. The PennCAN funder appears to be a different Robert. J. Hall. We apologize for the error.

Categories Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Privatization, Vouchers

Breaking News: Secret Penn. Poll funded by Pro-Voucher Group PennCAN

By dianeravitch
June 19, 2013 //
7

An earlier post described a secret GOP poll that acknowledges Governor Corbett’s weakness and recommends that he could gain popularity by attacking the Philadelphia teachers’ union. The strategy is that he can portray himself as a “leader” and “reformer” trying to solve the Philadelphia fiscal disaster by blaming the union.

New documents reveal that the poll was paid for by a pro-voucher group called PennCAN, which is affiliated with the pro-privatization 50CAN and the original group ConnCAN.

The story says:

“PennCAN funders include: the William Penn Foundation, which was heavily criticized for its support of “school choice” during the brief tenure of Jeremy Nowak; Robert J. Hall, publisher at Interstate General Media, parent company of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com; and Michael O’Neill, who contributed $100,000 to pay for Boston Consulting Group’s controversial “Blueprint” for transforming Philly schools.

“PennCAN has also received funding from Janine and Jeff Yass, the latter being one of three partners at the Bala Cynwyd-based hedge fund Susquehanna International Group and major givers to causes supporting school vouchers and similar free-market inspired reforms. In 2010, they donated an astronomical $5 million to support the quixotic gubernatorial bid of state Sen. Anthony Williams, a high-profile supporter of school vouchers.”

Categories Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Privatization, Vouchers

Secret Poll Urges Pa. Governor to Attack Philly Union to Improve His Image

By dianeravitch
June 19, 2013 //
14

A secret poll conducted on behalf of the Pennsylvania Republican Party found that Governor Tom Corbett is highly unpopular and likely to lose to his Democratic challenger.

Corbett’s biggest vulnerability is on education issues, which voters of both parties consider important. The poll recommends that the governor can improve his image on education issues by attacking the teachers’ unions.

Sixty-three percent of voters across the state disapprove of Corbett’s handling of education issues.

Most voters recognize that the problems of Philadelphia’s schools cannot be solved by Philadelphia alone.

91% believe that the Philadelphia public schools face an extremely serious funding problem.

62% of voters say that the state should provide greater funding to Philadelphia, as compared to 24% who say the district should declare bankruptcy, or 7% who say it should sell bonds.

The pollsters say that the governor should insist on such reforms as 1) allowing public schools to assign and transfer employees based on performance, not seniority; 2) allowing principals more say in hiring teachers for their schools; 3) no more automatic pay raises for years of service or degrees or certification. These are very popular with voters, who also believe that new funding should be tied to adopting these changes. Teacher union supporters agree with the first two, but not the third.

Most voters believe (despite the absence of any evidence) that these three reforms will improve education in the Philadelphia public schools while getting costs under control.

Some voters told the pollsters that these reforms would help “get bad teachers out of the classroom.”

Perhaps influenced by Rhee-style propaganda in recent years, voters think that the intense concentration of poverty and segregation in Philadelphia’s schools, as well as years of harsh budget cuts, can be cured by eliminating seniority and curbing the influence of the teachers’ union.

The pollsters conclude that Corbett can substantially improve his image as an “education reformer” and as someone who leads the battle for “change” by fighting the union.

The pollsters say that education is the wedge issue that Corbett can use to reverse his sagging approval ratings.

Categories Budget Cuts, Philadelphia, Teacher Tenure, Teachers, Unions

A Word from the Cripples

By dianeravitch
June 14, 2013 //
16

The state of Pennsylvania, the School Reform Commission, Governor Corbett, and the Legislature have decided to strip bare the publuc schools of Philadelphia. They are doing to these students what they would never do to their own. They are vandals.

This morning, i received this poem written by a student, Siduri Beckmann. Why is Siduri less deserving of a full education than the children of the city and state’s leaders?

“This poem has brought tears to many eyes in Philadelphia in the last twenty-four hours!

“Siduri Beckman is a ninth-grader at Julia R. Masterman School. She is the city of Philadelphia’s first Youth Poet Laureate. She “felt like it was part of my job and my duty as a Masterman student to write a poem protesting the school budget cuts.”

A Word from the Cripples

I’ve got something

to say.

It won’t take long

Just as long as it took you

to snatch everything away

One fourth of the body is

the leg

You have crippled us

Cursing us to hobble

all of our lives.

I cannot run

cross-country

on just

one leg.

Rip song

off of our tongues

to find songs are not Velcro but flesh

Snap the bows of the violins

in case the students could ever get the idea

that music

is alive

Because then you would have blood on your hands.

God forbid.

You see us as a problem

the classic class problem

INNER CITY streaked like mud across our faces

they’re all on the street anyway.

But leeches don’t suck out the disease

just the lifeblood.

I am angry

But I will not stoop

and hurt you

As you have hurt me

Thrusting fear

into our hearts

Why make us feel

so small

helpless

Forgotten by the people

whose duty it is to remember

Turn your back on your city

that chose not to choose

you

Because they feared

and now do all fears dawn true.

Bust the beehive

We will come out

In droves of wasps

We sting and live

to sting again

We will show ourselves to be

as formidable a foe

as all of those frackers

who you refuse to tax.

But you have also forgot

all of those ink marks slashed

with no faces or hopes or dreams or blood or flesh

Dismiss us

We cannot vote.

But in this country

we can speak.

Categories Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Philadelphia, Stand for Children, Students

Helen Gym: Report from Philadelphia Parents on the Front Lines of Destruction

By dianeravitch
June 13, 2013 //
4
Philadelphia has had a disastrous year of school closings, budget cuts, and a report recommending privatization of large numbers of public schools. Now, as parent activist Helen Gym reports, the situation is even more dire after massive layoffs. The state of Pennsylvania and the mayor of Philadelphia seem content to let private corporations take over public education  in the city. This is an ominous sign, not only for Pennsylvania, but for other urban districts. This is purposeful abandonment of a basic public function.
Gym writes:
For those watching Philadelphia’s tragic schools situation from afar, hope you might consider a few pieces from Parents United for Public Education.
 
Topping off a dreadful year that saw 24 school closings, and the stripping away of all educational supports from schools (guidance counselors, arts, music, sports, extracurriculuars, librarians, no books and supplies), last week the District laid off an unprecedented 3,783 staff members out of little more than 19,000 staff members, nearly 1 in 5 personnel.
 
Parents United’s response: This is not a school: http://parentsunitedphila.com/2013/06/07/this-isnt-a-school-parents-united-statement-on-district-layoffs/
 
Last night Mayor Nutter appeared on “All In with Chris Hayes” about the Philadelphia budget. Not only did the Mayor, who heads up the controversial US Conference of Mayors, make a miserable case for Philadelphia schools, he made a feeble case for public ed and raised questions about whether public money should go to public schools. Read our response here: http://parentsunitedphila.com/2013/06/11/is-this-our-mayor-2/
 
Thanks for sharing!
 
Helen

 
Helen Gym
Parents United for Public Education

Parents United for Public Education is an all-volunteer collective of public school parents working to put schools and classrooms first in budgets and budget priorities. 
Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Privatization

Faces of the Layoff: Who Got Pink Slips in Philadelphia

By dianeravitch
June 12, 2013 //
8

Numbers don’t begin to tell the story. Nearly 4,000 employees of the Philadelphia public school district learned that their jobs had been terminated.

The Teacher Action Group of Philadelphia is gathering photos to put a human face on an inhumane decision. Each one has a story. They are real people, not numbers.

Categories Budget Cuts, Philadelphia

Mayor Nutter Prefers Privatization to Public Schools

By dianeravitch
June 11, 2013 //
15

The irony of Philadelphia’s turn to privatization is that Philadelphia had the most extensive trial of privatization of any city in the nation about ten years ago. The district schools outperformed the privately managed schools, which lost their contracts. But that predated the charter movement, which is now hyped as having a secret formula to raise test scores at a lower cost.

This comment came from a retired teacher in Philadelphia.

He writes:

As a retired public school teacher, I have watched Mayor Nutter promote charters over public schools in the seven years he has been Mayor. He is current President of the U.S. conference of Mayors (Michelle Rhee’s husband, the Mayor of Sacramento is Second Vice President) http://tinyurl.com/lfzgl32 where is has been promoting the corporate education reform agenda.

Last week he joined other Pennsylvania Mayors to demand that Governor Corbett restore the $1 billion he cut from education in his first year in office. Mayor Nutter held a separate press conference with charter operators to say that more money was needed to expand charters.

For the history of the Philadelphia education crisis see:
The 2013-14 “Doomsday Budget” of the School District of Philadelphia: How Did It Come to This?
http://tinyurl.com/mwkclqr

Categories Charter Schools, Philadelphia, Privatization

Philadelphia Teacher: For Our Dedication, We Get Pink Slips

By dianeravitch
June 11, 2013 //
19

Harvey Scribner is a teacher in Philadelphia. He got his pink slip over the weekend. He was broken-hearted.

He knows that no one cares.

But he needed to say what he did in his four years as a teacher and why his school should not be destroyed:

“Since coming to the District I found equipment when there was none, I created curriculum when there was nothing, I did without when we needed supplies, I broke up fights, I sent kids to class when they wandered the halls, I worked two summer programs and took the extra step to complete training when the District did not think it was needed. For the last four years I have struggled, alongside the most courageous and honorable people I have ever worked with, to teach the students, feed the students, clothe the students, protect the students, and lead the students. For this dedication, and for the dedication of my brothers and sisters in education, we are now rewarded with this?

A District that lets us go, a union that shrugs its shoulders, a city that sleeps, a state that remains deaf, a federal system that demands more and offers less. The real crime is to the neighborhood’s and blocks in Philadelphia that cry out for something better, to anyone that would hear and that sound is lost in the overwhelming symphony of thundering apathy on all sides.

I realize that there are always forces beyond my control, but know that if you break up our team at Crossroads, you will damage one of the few systems in the School District of Philadelphia that is actually working. We are strong because of the integration of our curriculum, the dedication of our small but determined band of educators, and because we have the proper leadership to carry us through. I understand that every school and employee will claim the same, but we are truly different. If you break us up now, you will lose one small program that is making a profound impact on the fabric of our city.”

Categories Budget Cuts, Philadelphia
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