Want to see a public school system in its death throes? Look no further than Philadelphia. There, the school district is facing end times, with teachers, parents and students staring into the abyss created by a state intent on destroying public education.
On Thursday the city of Philadelphia announced that it would be borrowing $50 million to give the district, just so it can open schools as planned on Sept. 9, after Superintendent William Hite threatened to keep the doors closed without a cash infusion. The schools may open without counselors, administrative staff, noon aids, nurses, librarians or even pens and paper, but hey, kids will have a place to go and sit.
The $50 million fix is just the latest band-aid for a district that is beginning to resemble a rotting bike tube, covered in old patches applied to keep it functioning just a little while longer. At some point, the entire system fails.
Things have gotten so bad that at least one school has asked parents to chip in $613 per student just so they can open with adequate services, which, if it becomes the norm, effectively defeats the purpose of equitable public education, and is entirely unreasonable to expect from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.
The needs of children are secondary, however, to a right-wing governor in Tom Corbett who remains fixated on breaking the district in order to crush the teachers union and divert money to unproven experiments like vouchers and privately run charters. If the city’s children are left uneducated and impoverished among the smoldering wreckage of a broken school system, so be it.
To be clear, the schools are in crisis because the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania refuses to fund them adequately. The state Constitution mandates that the Legislature “provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education,” but that language appears to be considered some kind of sick joke at the state capital in Harrisburg.
I think that this is a very troubling example of how the Republican politicians are approaching their jobs these days.
Whether they are Senators and Congressmen blocking every policy put forward by the President, governors refusing to work to help implement Obamacare, or State Senators working hard to destroy Roe Vs Wade one draconian bill at a time, the Republicans seem to be on a mission of slash and burn politics. If they don't like it, or fear that the American people will and give credit to their opposition, then their job is to destroy it or make it unworkable.
More and more it seems that the GOP, and especially their Teabaggger contingent, are dedicated to the idea of destroying government, public education, and health care by sabotaging them from within and then standing back and pointing out the "fact" that they are failures.
The ONLY solution to this problem is to vote every Republican possible out of office and give the party that understands how to make government work to do just that.
Essentially if YOU are voting for the Republican candidate, YOU are part of the problem, NOT part of the solution.
If there is not an epic backlash from the people....they deserve him.
ReplyDeleteHe needs to be crucified come his next election.
DeletePeople voted for this guy, or did not vote for someone better, because this is what they wanted.
DeleteThey seek only to destroy. The last one standing wins.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how much these GOP governors are getting paid to sell out their constituents, destroy public education and basically set up serfdoms for Koch Industries?
ReplyDeleteI am the CFO for the one of the poorest Indian Tribes in the Country (not as poor as Pine Ridge, but close). I thought we had cash flow problems, but our cash flow problems are nothing compared to these schools.
ReplyDeleteI think voting a straight Democratic ticket is in order for 2014 and 2016. Not just in Pennsylvania, but in all the States.
I would encourage all of us to make sure all the young people we know are registered to vote and make sure they get to the polls. We cannot start soon enough with voter registrations as the Republicans are trying very hard to put up barriers to voting.
Anonymous, Philadelphia votes Democratic. Corbett got in thanks to those voters in what we like to call Pennsyltucky. Hopefully those voters will care enough to give the people in Philadelphia something better.
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ReplyDeleteThere really is not a backlash. Inner city Phila public schools are filled with low income minorities almost exclusively. Middle class and upper send to private schools.
It is a huge mess. Huge. At best these kids are babysat all day. The money has been stolen and grifted at the highest levels.
I work with many hard working african americans in he city and they are sort of taking matters into their own hands as far as banding together and cyber schooling their children - taking turns or doing it on the weekends. They tell me their kids were learning nothing and that the classrooms were a zoo.
Tragic.
The middle and upper class need to support these people with an uproar. It is relatively quiet. In the burbs = crickets.
What happens to retired teachers from Philly? Do they still receive their monthly checks/pensions? If they don't - is our government responsible? How does it work? Anyone know? (I'm talking about the public school system.)
Deleteso sad - this country has gone down the tubes
ReplyDeleteThe culmination of a generation of attacks by the GOP on public education.
ReplyDeletePrivate education -- for profit -- is fine for them.
Home schooling is fine --keeps mother out of the work force and foreign ideas out of the kids' heads.
The rest of society gets nothing, and will become a permanent underclass, to send to for-profit prisons and to die early of communicable diseases.
Sure he's not Dem? That sounds like what killed Detroit, dem policies.
ReplyDeleteIf you can’t explain your point move on to your echo chamber.
DeleteEmily Post
You are an "Idiot"
Delete@1:57 - I sure as hell hope that was sarcasm, unless you really want to get into a very long conversation about outsourcing.
DeleteSigned,
Former GM employee, formerly from Flint -- which WAS killed
As much as I hate to say it there's a part of me that says - shut the schools and leave them shut until the legislature gets off its ass and funds them. This is part of the problem we deal with. The state or feds cut something and people try to fill the gap. I keep saying about the deficit, let Boner close down the government. See what happens when we stop all services and the government locks its doors. People won't stand for that and the people of PA won't either. But as long as they try to negotiated they aren't going to get anywhere. The racists may laugh they shut down Philly public schools but shit rolls downhill and they'll get their own dose of it as the fallout extends outward.
ReplyDeleteI have a relative in Philadelphia who is a retired teacher and she is blaming the Dems!! She cannot be convinced otherwise!
ReplyDeleteThe repugs have a good messaging machine. The Dem city council has not lowered the funding for Philly schools. Philly schools have not suddenly misspent a boat load of money. The vile governor and the state house/ senate has cut funding for public schools statewide. Philly has a strong teachers union and she is blaming the Dems? That's gotta hurt in a hypocritical way.
DeleteHere in WA, the state was sued to provide the public education that is part and parcel of the state charter as it was not fully funding much of the required program. I believe it was forced to provide more funding - here is a link: http://waschoolexcellence.org/ Our schools are in a better place now.
ReplyDeleteAs a life long Pennsylvanian, I can say; without a doubt, corbett is the worst governor in the past 40 years. He is going after all the public schools in PA but is hitting Philly the hardest. We have went from a great governor (Rendell) to the worst. corbett loves fracking, destroyed the Department of Environmental Protection, and is trying to hurt the great Pennsylvania workers rights laws. A 1 termer from day 1 but it's going to take years to fix his mess.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow Pennsylvanian, I wholeheartedly agree.
DeleteI have always voted a straight Republican ticket
ReplyDeleteSince Bathhouse Barry was elected
What???????
DeleteI have a cousin who teaches in Philadelphia. Both of his parents were also teachers and very involved in the union. Whatever horror stories you may hear about the schools in that city, the reality is probably worse, thanks to the GOP.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of supplies and materials, the enormous number of students in classrooms, and the overwhelming needs of everyone involved are just heartbreaking. And yet the teachers show up every day, spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars of their own money and make the best of a horrific situation in order to provide the best education they can under the circumstances.
I don't understand how these Republican leaders sleep at night, knowing how they have intentionally ruined the lives of so many of their constituents.
That's our governor. And no, I didn't vote for him. Dick.
ReplyDeleteStories like this one have me wondering about the possibilities of class action lawsuits being brought against these fascists for gross negligence.
ReplyDeleteEveryone in Pennsylvania knows what a slime ball he is especially for his inaction on the Sandusky child sex abuse case as Attorney General
ReplyDeletehttp://m.espn.go.com/general/story?storyId=7770996&src=desktop
He's getting voted out. He's on the side of charter schools and home schooling at the expense of public education and the teacher's union. I feel guilty for saying this, but we were fortunate enough to live in the suburbs of Philly and with the parent's help, our kids had the best teachers.
ReplyDeleteEd Rendell was the best Governor the state ever had, The people are fed up with Corbett, there's no way he'll win another election.
I wish I had your confidence, but if the Philadelphia schools crash and burn, it will take the union down too. And Gov "Just close your eyes" will become a hero (like the Wisconsin idiot) to the Pennsyltuckians who hate Philadelphia. And then,they'll come up with another version of the voter ID law to disenfranchise Philadelphians. Add in some Koch dirty tricks and, voila, he just might get re-elected. After all, Bush II got re-elected.
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