In 1991 the State of Pennsylvania changed its funding formula for education in Philadelphia. The states share of education previously at 55%, was reduced to 36%.
Nine years later the State of Pennsylvania, with Tom Ridge as Governor, took over the School District of Philadelphia because it was in financial chaos.
I don’t like the term “Ground Zero” as I view it with reverence since 9/11, but it is true that Philadelphia has become the single largest experiment in public education at least in my lifetime. Governor Schweiker, who took over for Governor Ridge when he became Secretary of Homeland Security, worked out a financial deal to rescue our impoverished school district, and rebuild what at one time was an outstanding educational system.
So how have they done?
The new School Reform Commission (SRC) established a business like model. It created a fancy headquarters building which opened for business several months late and more than $20 million over budget. The SRC initiated school choice, competition, and set goals for themselves. The SRC spent over ½ million dollars advertising these goals but never come close to meeting them. The School District’s budget deficit ballooned to over $1.5 billion. Even adjusted for inflation the deficit was higher than before the state took over.
The overwhelming majority of new teachers quit within 5 years. I have to believe that if teachers don’t want to work here, students don’t want to attend here, and who can blame them.
In short, the first seven years of the school reform commission have been a total failure. Even believers in school choice have suffered as the public schools improved at a greater rate than any of the choices offered.
What we must do now is make school discipline the number one issue in Philadelphia
Our schools lack discipline and are presently more dangerous than they have ever been for both teachers and students. The links below verify this and there are more out there. It is so well documented that only our elected leaders can ignore it.
http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_9254725
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19694712&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20080515_Editorial__Classroom_Violence.html
http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/858089/report_district_losing_control/index.html
On the bright side, test scores as they were before the state take over have continued to increase but at a decreasing rate. We are so far from proficient that our increases should be maintaining a high slope of ascendancy.
Yes we have a few new school buildings, but look at our crime rate, look at our murder rate. Look at our drop out rate which in reality is close to 60%. These record levels are all the evidence one should need to say give back our schools to local control and fund us properly.
Today our debate in Philly is what to do with our overpopulated prisons and how do we productively incorporate released prisoners into society? If we had dealt with our overpopulated schools successfully we would not be having this discussion. Our citizens and politicians are finding out it is less expensive to educate than incarcerate. So what will they do? They’ll probably take over our prisons saying we can’t manage them.
There is hope. The legislature in Pennsylvania is considering proposals to fund education based on need. I can only hope every citizen in Pennsylvania calls their legislator to support implementation of funding based on this “Costing Out “study.
We have gone in my lifetime, from a country where states had laws banning interracial marriage, where dance floors had a rope down the middle to keep different races from mingling on the dance floor, from a city like Philadelphia
