The PFT: The most ineffective of Philadelphia's unions?

The recent announcement that SEPTA's TWU Local 234 (the union representing bus drivers and other transit workers) is beginning to meet in order to hammer out a new contract deserves to be viewed in light of the currently ongoing Philadelphia Federation of Teachers contract talks and the soon to expire Fraternal Order of Police #5 contract. Like the recently expired PFT contract, the current SEPTA and FOP contracts expire in a few months. Like the SEPTA and FOP contracts, the PFT contract dates back to 2009. All three unions are also taxpayer funded and, as such, targets of city and state politicians seeking to tighten their fiscal belts.

SEPTA's unionized workers recently chose Willie Brown as their new president. Yes, that's the same Willie Brown who led SEPTA through a controversial and inconvenient 6-day strike in 2009 as the World Series ended. That strike even disrupted the polls on Election Day. Willie Brown lost his re-election bid in 2010, but just won back the post (TWU and the FOP hold elections every 3 years, unlike the PFT which holds them every 4 years) and will be negotiating TWU's new contract with SEPTA.

Here is a brief summary of the expiring five-year contract with SEPTA:
  --> $1,250 "signing bonus" to each union member

  --> raises of 2.5% in the second and third year

  --> 3.5% raise in the fourth year

  --> 3% raise in the final year

While this 2009 contract gave an effective cost-of-living adjustment of 12% to the city's bus drivers (with an extra $1250 bonus), the city's teachers received a measly 6% increase as a result of their 2009 contract. Police officers received a whopping 14.7% increase during the same time.

New bus drivers now get $32,900 a year, and drivers with four or more years experience are paid $54,800 a year. Remember, however, that they are due a 3% raise in December. That means a 4th year bus driver (qualification of a high school diploma and driver's license) will be making nearly $56,450, not including time and a half for overtime. Current 4th year teachers with the District earn $54,365. That means, starting in December, many of the city's bus drivers will be earning more than the city's teachers.

In fact, when we look at aggregate earnings over an average 30-year career, Philadelphia bus drivers earn more than Philadelphia teachers with a Bachelor's Degree. The following chart details the difference using the 2013 contract-negotiated salary of each union. I used an extremely conservative estimate of $25,000 per year for undergraduate studies (including tuition, books, housing costs, etc.).

Some may view TWU Local 234's successes in obtaining a fair wage and benefits package for their members as a result of their aggressiveness and willingness to use labor actions. (The Police union is legally barred from going on strike and often settles their contract in arbitration.) SEPTA workers went on strike in both 2005 and 2009, causing vast disruptions to the city and destroying the public image of their union and its leaders, such as Willie Brown. The PFT's president, Jerry Jordan, takes the other approach and attempts to gain as much public support as possible for the teachers and their union. Jerry Jordan has been extremely successful in this respect. Only 11% of the city currently blames the teachers and their union for the woes of the district, with over 80% focusing their ire on those who control the purse-strings, namely the city and state governments. 

Such public support is great, but if one does not use it, then to what end? Despite this massive show of support, the teachers have not called for a true strike in over 30 years... Act 46 be damned. Instead, the PFT leadership chooses to open schools at understaffed levels, tells teachers to "do their best" with what little resources they have, and instructs them to wait it out. Unfortunately, the time for a strike is already past us seeing as the public would most likely say, "Well, you've been working for a month under these deplorable conditions, so they can't be that bad. Why strike now?" 

Meanwhile, as teachers trudge along in overcrowded classrooms with no paper, no technology, no libraries, no counselors, no after-school funds, and no support staff, Willie Brown is vowing to fight for such small but important changes in his members' working conditions as new mirrors on every bus, wanted posters clearly showing those who have assaulted bus drivers, an increase in undercover police or surveillance, and a stern promise to halt any attempts at privatizing mass transit by Harrisburg.

An analysis of the three largest tax-supported unions in the city shows how this lack of aggressive negotiation has hurt Philadelphia's teachers. Perhaps the PFT's ineffectiveness lies in its static and stale leadership. Whereas SEPTA's Willie Brown and the Fraternal Order of Police's John McNesby have both faced challenges to their positions and recently labored "in the trenches" with other members of their workforce, Jerry Jordan hasn't stepped foot in a classroom since 1987!

This chart, compiled from publicly available contracts, shows the ineffectiveness of the PFT when compared to SEPTA's TWU Local 234 and the Police Department's FOP #5. Notice the difference in cost of living wage adjustments each year for the past decade:

Ignore for a minute, if you will, the fact that Philadelphia bus drivers and police officers have had salary increases at nearly DOUBLE the rate of teachers over the past decade. This shortcoming becomes even more glaring when one considers that the inflation rate from January 2004 to the present month stands at 26.28%. This means that, over the past ten years, while bus drivers have gained a real wage increase of 9% (plus a $1250 bonus) and police officers have gained a real wage increase of 14%, teachers have actually taken a PAY CUT OF 6%. This is even more insulting when one considers that, in order to gain employment, teachers (unlike all bus drivers and most police officers) must obtain, at a minimum, a Bachelor's Degree which costs well over $100,000 in average 2013 college tuition costs.

The issue of degrees is even more insulting when one considers how the PFT has negotiated top salaries for Philadelphia teachers in the form of their "Senior Career Teacher" classification. Philadelphia is the only school district in Pennsylvania that requires its teachers to earn a Masters Degree, plus 60 graduate credits AND two teacher certifications in order to earn that top salary. Here is a quick snapshot of some other districts and what their top salary education requirements are:

When one considers the prohibitively expensive cost of post-graduate study, pursuing these courses of higher education can be quite cost restrictive. Other teacher unions around the state, unlike the PFT, have taken this into account and negotiated contract terms with their respective districts that reimburse teachers for a vast majority of that tuition. Where does that leave us? Philadelphia teachers must pay the MOST to earn the LEAST.

Of course, there is one way for Philadelphia teachers to earn more than even the highest paid suburban teacher, avoid these costly education courses, and not worry about the fact that we have effectively taken a 6% pay cut over the past decade. You could join the union leadership. Everyone on the PFT's contract negotiating team earns well over $110,000 and more than any of the highest paid suburban teachers. In fact, one of the first things negotiated in the PFT contract, on page 2, is that "annually, the President of the Federation shall inform the School District of the salary to be paid to each employee on approved leave with the Federation. The School District shall adjust each employee’s salary accordingly." That's right, PFT leadership has the right to tell the District what it must pay them, and can alter it every year!

Jerry Jordan hasn't taught in a classroom since 1987, doesn't have a Master's Degree, and still managed to pull in $150,000. But Jerry Jordan doesn't earn the highest salary in the PFT headquarters on Chestnut Street. That honor goes to ex-PFT president and current AFT-PA president Ted Kirsch, who pulls in nearly $200,000 according to public disclosure documents filed with the Department of Labor.

Let's hope Ted Kirsch, the PFT leadership, and Jerry Jordan emulate their lesser paid counterparts, Willie Brown and John McNesby, and earn those salaries during the current contract negotiations. Now more than ever, Philadelphia's teachers need strong union leadership that will get them competitive wages and better working conditions, not more excuses and continuous rallies that seem to go in circles. If not, we may have to start looking for a new career that respects us as professionals, furnishes us with the work environment we deserve, and helps us bring home a decent wage that provides for our families...

I hear SEPTA is hiring.

A Fortnight's Analysis of the News

INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE

• Our city's shame has made it halfway across the world onto Chinese TV. I suppose they wonder how we could play politcal brinkmanship with the education of ours kids... It's OK - we have a law called "No Child Left Behind" in this country... so that must mean no child is being left behind.

• Education Week, the largest national newspaper covering K-12 education has devoted an entire page in covering the dire situation in Philadelphia. Here is a moving excerpt:

Rebecca Poyourow choked up when thinking about how finances at Cook Wissahickon Elementary School have worsened despite efforts by her and other parents to fundraise, volunteer in afterschool clubs and organize a tutoring program to offset the effects of cuts in state aid a couple of years ago.  "I feel like we're staring into the abyss," Poyourow said. "I thought we could just put our hands in and make it work." Sabra Townsend hired a lawyer after her son's high school in the Germantown section of the city was closed and he was rejected by the other five schools to which he applied - including the one that was supposed to take children from the closed school."I'm sitting here like, 'What do you expect me to do?'" Townsend said. To be sure, many parents haven't followed the debacle and the little they've heard about it hasn't shaken their intent to send their children back to school. When Borges-Carrera asked parents at freshmen orientation day Thursday how many knew there would be no guidance counselors in the school, about half the hands went up.

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS

• PA Secretary of Education William Harner (the one who has been holding the city's $45 million hostage along with Budget Secretary Charles Zogby) was ousted earlier last week by Corbett over allegations of "inappropriate behavior" even though he has only held the post for 3 months. Did Harner know some inside information about the expired PFT contract that he did not feel comfortable about, or was this a legitimate firing, or am I over-analyzing? Dr. Carolyn Dumaresq, who now has the final say on the $45 million which is apparently linked to our contract, is now Pennsylvania's 3rd Secretary of Education since Corbett took office in 2011, raising serious concerns about Corbett's ability to govern...

• The results are in for the Keystone Exams that were rolled out last year and Central and Masterman were the only two high schools in the city with failure rates of under 10%. It's sad how everyone expected the poor performance by mainly minority students in the city's other high schools.... Well it turns out the rich white kids in the suburban districts, like the girl interviewed for this article from Lower Merion, didn't do so well either. According to the ranking member of the PA Senate Education Committee from Chester County talking about students in his county, "since the plan has been phased in, 60 percent of students failed Algebra I and Biology and 45 percent failed Literature. As many as 75 percent of students have had to retake the test."  I guess now that rich white kids in the suburbs can't even pass PA's high-stakes standardized tests, they must be bad! What really got my blood boiling though, was how the article ends and the inherent inequality of how poorer kids are educated in this state is nonchalantly dismissed: Joseph J. O'Brien, executive director of the Chester County Intermediate Unit, pointed out that Keystones will not provide new information. He predicted the more affluent districts will do substantially better than the poorer ones. "Thus, we will spend a large amount of money we do not have to provide something we already know," he said.

Where's the money for schools though?

• Corbett has just hired high-priced lawyers (at $400 an hour) to defend a federal lawsuit challenging the state's 1996 ban on gay marriage because the PA Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, refuses to defend the case, calling it unconstitutional.

• These mother-fracking frackers. These fracking companies and their fracking corporate directors have cheated the state and residents out of billions of dollars.

PFT PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN

• Immediately following Monday's membership meeting, the PFT released an AFT funded poll showing the shifting attitudes towards Mayor Nutter and his teacher attacks, thereby showing our increased community support: Sixty-five percent of voters said they were "dissatisfied" with Nutter's education performance, while 30 percent reported being satisfied. Those numbers shifted from May, when 39 percent of voters were satisfied with the mayor's handling of the schools and 54 percent were dissatisfied. Corbett didn't fare any better - his negativity rating in Philadelphia is 48 percent, while the mayor's is 46 percent.

• The AFT and PFT have continued the PR campaign attack against Nutter and Corbett, seeing as it has worked so effectively. Here's the new ad although, according to George Jackson, the PFT spokesman and communications director, it has been temporarily halted because Nutter finally agreed to meet with PFT leadership some time at the end of the week.

• Jerry Jordan also had an editorial earlier this week in the paper where he said: "But rather than keep the focus on a conversation about how to increase revenue for schools (and whom to hold accountable for this mess), Mayor Nutter instead wants to shift more attention to work rules in the PFT contract. These kinds of personnel management concerns are worthwhile to discuss, particularly in more secure economic times. But to focus on work rules when our schools can't afford copy paper is an irresponsible distraction from what really matters."

ACT 46 & PFT STRATEGY

It seems that the PFT's lawyers may be taking the stance that Act 46 was ENACTED in 1998, authorizing the state to take over the District at any time, even though it did not do so immediately. On December 21, 2001, then Secretary of Education Charles Zogby (now Corbett's Budget Secretary and the one who is really pulling the strings to hold the $45 million hostage) actually TRIGGERED Act 46, thus creating the SRC and authorizing the state takeover.

Since then, the District has negotiated, in good faith, with the PFT for a 2004-2008 contract, 2009 extension, 2009-12 contract, and current 2013 extension. That is a LONG TIME of good-faith negotiating and NO contract imposition - thereby creating a legal argument that Act 46 was a one-and-done deal. If a contract was to be imposed, it should have legally been done when the SRC was created, or at the very least when that first contract expired in 2004. The argument would be: Why did the SRC continue to negotiate in good faith, honor those contracts, and not impose their own terms? THAT is why Pedro Ramos, a "seasoned attorney who leads his firm's government, education and social sector practice" (straight from the District's website!) sought Harrisburg's approval to impose contract terms in 2012, instead of doing it outright - Ramos basically doesn't think the SRC still has the authority to do so and imposing terms could lead to a teacher LOCKOUT... and that's a whole different store from a strike. Read more about a possible lock-out in this article with interviews from PFT attorney Deborah Willig, Charles Zogby, and Jerry Jordan.

Keep in mind, however, that the PA Supreme Court is currently composed of 4 Republicans and 3 Democrats... Would this Republican majority vote against a law passed by a Republican Governor and Republican legislature, currently being pushed to the forefront by another Republican Governor and Republican legislature?

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to what Michael Masch (to be fair, a Democrat) recently had to say on the matter in an exclusive interview with The Notebook:

Does the School Reform Commission even have the right to impose contract terms on the PFT – and unilaterally cut teacher pay – if no contract agreement is reached?“If the SRC is going to take that position, they should cite where they get the authority,” Masch said.Masch was a member of the Board of Education when it was disbanded, and subsequently became a member of the SRC before joining the Rendell administration as state budget secretary and then the District as its finance chief. He has been part of several contract negotiations in these various roles and said he heard several legal opinions on the issue of whether the District can impose its own terms.Ultimately, he said, a judge or judges will have to interpret the state law – so-called Act 46, or the Distressed School Act – that gave the SRC power to run the District.But he cited some relevant portions of the law, arguing primarily that the SRC had one shot to impose contract terms – in the contract right after it was formed. Because the SRC has repeatedly bargained with the PFT on issues such as salaries, benefits and the length of the school day, Masch said that it is arguable that it has forfeited its right to impose terms now, regardless of its financial bind.The law says, “If upon the termination of a collective bargaining agreement in effect on the date of the declaration of distress under this section a new collective bargaining agreement has not been ratified, the School Reform Commission shall establish a personnel salary schedule to be used until a new agreement is ratified.”“Once the SRC is created, the contract in effect expires,” Masch said. “If the union and District refuse to ratify a contract at that moment, the SRC can impose a pay plan. But it doesn’t say that it can do that at any subsequent time in the future.”

SYRIA??

Here's something to think about as the School District of Philadelphia, one of the nation's largest public school systems, prepares to open with a skeleton staff on Monday because of a manufactured $304 million shortfall...

• As we draw closer to war with Syria, remember that EACH Tomahawk Missile costs $1.5 million and continuing to keep our aircraft carriers within striking distance costs $25 million PER WEEK, PER SHIP. This puts a price tag on any type of military engagement at a minimum of $1 billion. When asked about this potential cost, the US Navy chief said these costs would not be "extraordinary" because, if you put it in context, it really won't be when one considers the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan cost over $4 trillion.

• Russia also just declassified a detailed 100-page report submitted to the UN months ago saying that the Syrian rebels used a Sarin gas attack first - the reason UN inspectors were in Syria in the first place. The Bush Administration (oops, I mean Obama) says they don't need any evidence from UN inspectors, it's GO TIME.... Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

It's nice to see where our country's priorities lie.

A Brief Labor History of Philadelphia's Public Schools

Philadelphia has a long history of public education, one of the longest in the United States, if not the world. Although vague and lacking in detail, the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790 actually had the foresight to include: "The Legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, provide by law for the establishment of schools throughout the State, in such a manner that the poor may be taught gratis." As a result, an Act of the Pennsylvania General Assembly (1818) created the "First School District of Philadelphia" in an attempt to control the spiraling poverty and crime that accompanied the exponential growth of the city. It would be a mistake, however, to equate these early public schools with the public schools of today. The Pennsylvania schools of the early 19th century were meant as ways to educate the indigent youth of the city and were typically staffed by a single teacher who would then teach the older pupils to instruct younger pupils. As far as academic rigor was concerned, all of these schools provided, at the most, what we would today consider to be a basic education: reading, writing, and simple arithmetic.

The largest reform in the early School District of Philadelphia, and the other various Pennsylvania school districts that were beginning to pop up, was the Consolidation Act of 1836. This law opened public schools to ALL students, poor and rich alike, and helped to rid the stigma of "public" schools as being nothing more than "charity" schools for the destitute masses. To quote The public schools of Philadelphia : historical, biographical, statistical:

"The Act of 1836 may be regarded as the corner-stone of the public school system. Indeed, many of its important provisions are still in force. Regarding the formation of school districts, the election of school directors and their powers and duties, the organization of school boards, the levying and collection of taxes for school purposes, and the duties of the State Superintendent, the law is substantially the same now as under the Act of 1836."

The Consolidation Act of 1836 also allowed for something unheard of up until that point, namely the authority "...to establish one central high school for the full education for such pupils of the public schools of the First School District as may possess the requisite qualifications..." Central High School, the second-oldest continuously-operating public high school in the United States, was therefore chartered in 1836 for those students - poor and rich alike (although no girls) - who showed the propensity to advance beyond a basic grammar school education. Following construction of the building at Juniper and Market Street, the doors of Central High School opened to students for the first time in October of 1838 with 4 professors and 63 students... and it continues to serve as a jewel in the crown of the state's public education system to this very day.

By the end of World War II, every state had not only created a progressive publicly-funded education system, but instituted compulsory education laws as well. Working conditions for the teachers at these public schools, however, were atrocious. Classes were overcrowded, jobs were dispensed according to who (not what) a teacher knew, and salaries were arbitrarily raised or lowered each year according to the whim of the state legislature. If a district was running a deficit, they would often chop off a couple of weeks at the end of June, sending the kids into an early summer break and thereby saving funds by not having to pay the teachers their full salaries. In 1947, to give you an idea, some "reform-minded" legislators in Harrisburg (the state paid all teacher salaries at the time) attempted to raise the mandated minimum PA public school teacher salary from $1,400 ($14,600 in 2013 dollars) to $1,950 ($20,400 in 2013 dollars). Philadelphia and Pittsburgh minimums were to be set slightly higher at $2,175 ($22,800 in 2013 dollars) seeing as those two districts subsidized their salaries with local tax dollars as well. In fact, when President Truman visited Philadelphia's privately-endowed Girard College in 1948, he made front page news across the nation with his off-the-cuff remarks about the state of teaching in America's public schools: "You young men are lucky to have a school like this in the present day. You have individual attention from your teacher. At the present time our public schools are so overcrowded there are plenty of instances where the teachers cannot call the children by name. The financial situation of our school system is something disgraceful for the richest nation in the world."

Unable to attract the best and the brightest under such poor working conditions and compensation, the college graduation rate of Philadelphia teachers stood at a measly 42%... hardly the type of educator any world power wants teaching that vital next generation. The time was ripe for teachers to seek changes from within the system because

THEY HAD THE PUBLIC'S SUPPORT...

As America continued down the path of a post-war economic boom, numerous public sector employees sought to unionize. They viewed themselves as being left behind in that post-war prosperity - pointing out that they earned less than factory workers who had not even completed high school - and Philadelphia teachers were no exception. The public agreed. Union activism among the nation's teachers reached a crossroads in the late 1960s as strikes threatened to erupt all across the country. This New York Times syndicated analysis from 1968 clearly shows why teachers all across the United States finally banded together under one of the two national teacher labor organization, the National Education Association or the American Federation of Teachers:

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (under the AFT) also launched a successful membership drive during this time and became the exclusive bargaining unit for the city's public school teachers. In 1970, once again DUE TO THE PUBLIC'S SUPPORT, Pennsylvania Act 195 was implemented which, for the first time, allowed the state's public employees to strike. The PFT took advantage of this new law and, from 1970 to 1981, greatly increased its members' wages and working conditions by going on strike 6 times. For example, by 1980 the average Philadelphia teacher was earning $24,000 ($68,000 in 2013 dollars). The city had the highest paid public school employees in the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, attracting the best and the brightest applicants to its schools as the suburbs struggled to keep their salaries competitive. All of that changed with the strike of 1981 and is one of the reasons why the PFT is so reluctant to strike in the 21st century.

In September 1981, the membership of the PFT voted to go on strike because the mayor cancelled a contractual 10% salary raise and laid off 3500 employees, claiming the school board did not have the money as they faced a $223million deficit. (Eerily similar to our modern-day situation in 2013!) The teacher's union held out for 50 days until late October, but was eventually forced back to work by a Commonwealth court order that stated the Philadelphia school board DID NOT have the authority to lay off 3500 employees (they were rehired) but DID have the authority to simply not honor the promised 10% raise. Teachers returned to work for the rest of the school year under the old contract, minus the raise. The following year, the PFT did manage to negotiate a new contract with 6% raises for each of the next three years, but the damage had already been done. The surrounding counties slowly started to overtake Philadelphia in teacher pay to the point where, in 2013, Philadelphia teachers were, on average, earning 15-20% less than their counterparts in Bucks and Montgomery County.

The 1981 strike was disastrous in that not only did it paint teachers in a bad light, causing them to slowly LOSE THE PUBLIC'S SUPPORT, but it also ruined the School District's already soiled reputation by portraying an agency that was unable to keep its own house (staff and finances) in order. As The Inquirer summarized it:
The walkout that closed schools for 50 days in the fall of 1981 was not the sole reason large numbers of middle-class Philadelphians decided to leave the city schools - or the city itself - in the last two decades. But, for many people, it was the proverbial last straw.
"I heard that over and over again," said Happy Fernandez, the former city councilwoman and candidate for the Democratic mayoral nomination, who was executive director of the Parents Union for Public Schools at the time.
"Very few people I know stayed in [the city schools] after that," said Ted Hershberg, a University of Pennsylvania public policy and history professor who is also director of the Center for Greater Philadelphia, a nonprofit group that tackles regional issues.
The long-term impact of the 1981 strike on the city and its schools has been devastating, Fernandez and Hershberg said.

So why am I bringing all of this up? Philadelphia's teachers have come a LONG WAY, but there are limits to what a strike can accomplish. Most importantly, the teachers MUST HAVE THE PUBLIC'S SUPPORT. In 1990, Ted Kirsch's election as PFT President helped signal that the union would start working WITH the District, not against it, in order to gain that support. Kirsch (a fellow social studies teacher and student of history, currently the PA-AFT President) never forgot the follies of the 1981 strike and that is why he was so reluctant to call for another labor action 19 years later. This is how President Kirsch and his chief contract negotiator at the time, Jerry Jordan (YES - Jerry Jordan really DOES HAVE that much experience negotiating contracts!) responded to Philadelphia teachers who, like many now in 2013, DEMANDED a strike in 2000:
"Many of you have asked in letters and e-mail why . . . we are not already engaged in a work stoppage of some kind," PFT president Ted Kirsch and chief negotiator Jerry Jordan said in a letter to members dated Oct. 18. "In 1981, then-Mayor Bill Green reneged on a 10 percent raise to PFT members in the second year of a two-year contract. The PFT membership voted to go out on strike. We stayed out [50 days], but despite our commitment and unity, we never won back that 10 percent raise."
Instead, the PFT leadership called a "weekend" strike at the end of October that threatened to close the polls on an Election Day that was less than a week away (remember, 25% of the city's polls are located in public schools) if the District did not settle. Now THAT is strategy... not getting parents angry by walking in the cold for 50 days. Besides, striking before an election hurts the politicians - and they have the real power to settle a contract dispute behind the scenes. Striking for 50 days in winter simply hurts parents and makes teachers lose that all vital "Public Relations" campaign with them.

As our local history has shown, there is a time and a place for teacher strikes, but one MUST HAVE THE COMMUNITY'S SUPPORT...

That's exactly what the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers is currently doing by demonstrating a willingness to compromise as it continues to bargain with a District and State that is hellbent on that very union's destruction.

Philadelphia's Charter Problem

There have been a number of developments this week as far as charter schools and their lack of financial transparency are concerned. It is even more frustrating for advocates of public education here in Philadelphia that these gross ethical violations - amounting to nothing more than stealing from children - have come to light as schools prepare to open in a clearly unsafe environment that, dare I say it, may result in the serious injury, or even death, of a pupil during the 2013-14 school year.

Tom Ferrick, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist during his time at the Inquirer, wrote an excellent summary of the history of charter schools in Philadelphia earlier this week that is well worth your time. To summarize, charter schools came to fruition in 1997 as then-Governor Tom Ridge sought to brandish the badge of "education reformer" while he set his sights on higher political goals. Although Ridge's coveted voucher program was defeated with the help of public school advocates and teachers' unions across the state, a consolation prize "charter school law" was passed in Harrisburg (mainly because the very idea of charters was still fairly new in 1997). Little did anyone realize that charters would bloom so quickly in Philadelphia - growing from the first charter established in the city, Community Academy of Philadelphia, to the nearly 60,000 pupils currently enrolled in over 80 charters today.

As of 2013, Pennsylvania has approximately 170 charter schools (you can download the list here), the vast majority of which are located in urban districts throughout the state - over half in Philadelphia. In fact, when charters have tried to open in relatively wealthy suburban, low-immigrant, majority white school districts, they have been shot down time and time again. Just check out the above-mentioned list. (Ignore the highlighted blue schools which indicate cyber-charter schools and, therefore, can enroll students anywhere in the state). This "Better not open a charter in my School District!" scenario, along with inevitable charter rejection, plays out every year all throughout Bucks and Montgomery Counties, just as it did last year in North Penn. Even extremely popular and relatively successful charter schools in Philadelphia, like MaST, are shot down once they try to expand outside of the city. Why?

Do you really need an answer $$$???

Charters divert funds from the public schools in two manners. They drain resources as the money follows the students who leave and also create a lower demand for the tuition-based private schools in that district. This is exactly what has happened in Philadelphia as Catholic schools are rapidly shrinking (causing the District to pick up the tab) and district buildings go underutilized while still incurring the same upkeep costs (you can't heat half a school, even if enrollment has dropped by half). In fact, since the advent of charters in Philadelphia, Catholic school enrollment has shrunk by 35% and the Archdiocese has closed over 80 schools as the School District of Philadelphia struggles to pick up the added cost of more students with no additional funding from the city and state. (Ironically, mostly charters have purchased these shuttered Catholic school buildings - with publicly-funded dollars of course.) No wonder those well-off suburban districts steer clear of charter expansion!

What about Philadelphia? Well, Philly schools have, over years and years of bad oversight and management, been written off as "bad schools" that need to be reformed... "So why not enroll my kids in a charter school!!" (Wait a minute, didn't we just establish that they drain a district's finances even further?) Charters, in Philadelphia at least, have the REPUTATION of being better simply because - frankly - they aren't Philly schools. Charters, as a whole, perform no better or worse than Philadelphia public schools. A number of studies have shown this, such as this one from 2008 "The analysis indicates that students' average gains attending charter schools are statistically indistinguishable from the gains they experience while at traditional public schools." Don't get me wrong - there are good charter schools and there are bad charter schools JUST AS there are excellent Philly public schools (some of the best in the state!) and bad public schools. So, why do many parents line up for charter schools while they malign the public school down the street? Basically, they have a better marketing strategy and are able to more successfully "sell" their product (unlike what the School District of Philadelphia is currently doing with this fiscal showdown fiasco).

So where's the problem? Again, it comes down to the money. All of the money that goes through public school districts is carefully recorded, accounted for and, if discrepancies arise, audited. Books are kept. I wish I could say the same about charter schools. Charters have free reign because the state and city charter-oversight offices are woefully understaffed and underfunded. For example, only three of those over 80 Philly charters have even been audited since 2008. In fact, Harrisburg is full of lobbyists pushing for laws to make it even EASIER to open charter schools instead of focusing on increased state supervision. If you want to make a quick buck with taxpayer money and disguise it as helping out those "poor urban" kids, why not open up a charter school? Come on... Everyone's doing it! With such poor oversight, who's going to stop you? I bet, even the director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority - that "great educator" of children, pun intended - wants his own charter! (In fact, HE DOES. I kid you not.)

This all leads me, finally, to this week's news. As you read these highlights, keep in mind that this money should be going to a School District that is in the hole $300million - a District asking its teachers to give $133million in labor concession.

• Where has all the PA education money gone? Why not ask the founder of PA's largest cyber charter school... which syphons off even more money from traditional public schools than brick-and-mortar charters because PA law reimburses them the same amount per pupil, even though it's significantly cheaper to educate a student online. Well, the FBI recently discovered that the founder and former CEO of PA Cyber (while producing horrible academic results) stole "more than $8 million from the school through a network of companies, then scheming with his accountant to avoid income taxes." Among other things, he even had the audacity to buy a $1 million Florida condominium and houses for his girlfriend and mother, along with nearly $1 million in personal expenses, including groceries. All of this, of course, made possible because charter schools don't have the same oversight as district-run schools.
• That first charter established in the city all the way back in 1997... Community Academy of Philadelphia? It has a history of ridiculously high salaries, charges of nepotism, and fund mismanagement while producing poor academic results and collecting over $20million in public tax money. This week, the school secretary that informed on them to the Feds back in 2009 finally settled her whistle-blowing lawsuit. Charges against the charter are still pending.
• The President of Harambee Charter School, another of the city's oldest charters dating to 1997, was charged with using his position to steal nearly $90,000.
• ASPIRA Inc of PA, the operator of 5 charters here in Philadelphia and one of the city's largest, was recently audited. It was discovered that they had shuffled around $3.3 million of public tax money towards private debt-service and a property purchasing entity. "...the network’s combined real-estate holdings increased from $13.34 million in 2011 to $23.15 million in 2012, according to the audit." Meanwhile, just a few months ago, it was disclosed that ASPIRA was spending a publicly-funded $17,094 in legal fees to discourage its staff at the newly acquired Olney Charter High from forming a union.
• Finally, although this does not have to do with Philadelphia, the New York Times did a piece earlier this week on how charter schools across the country prefer younger and less-experienced teachers. It profiled the numerous charters that encourage teachers to leave within 5 years, making them a perfect match for Teach For America and other "resume building" teacher programs. Even though numerous studies have concluded that more experienced teachers coupled with staff stability and less teacher turnover produce the best academic results for students, these charters throw that research out the window. Instead, they once again look at the bottom line: costs and profits.

Obviously, many local groups have realized the hypocrisy involved and are demanding that these mismanaged charters pay back their ill-gotten gains. They are calling on the State, City, and District to balance their books by seeking reparations from these frauds - not by stripping away the livelihood of hard-working teachers.

  Thanks Action United!

Today's Contract News & Reflections

What a busy day! I was out with the kids from early morning until this afternoon and came back to find President Jerry Jordan has said he would propose healthcare contributions and a pay freeze for members to the District at the negotiating table!!! http://thenotebook.org/blog/136364/countdown-day-12-jordan-offers-one-year-pay-freeze-benefit-changes

While he stated that there would be "NO WAGE CUTS" I was livid because, as you all know, whether we call it a pay cut or healthcare contributions, at the end of the day it still means less money in our paycheck and is, therefore, a pay cut. Over the past decade, this has been, in my opinion, the compromise we were given compared to teachers in other districts - worse salary but better benefits with lower costs. After doing some basic math, what the District wants - 13% healthcare contributions - amounts to about a 6% pay cut for me under my plan (Family HMO). It could be more or less depending on your situation. As a reminder, percentage contributions ARE NOT STABLE seeing as healthcare costs continue to rise exponentially due to this country's dysfunctional healthcare system.

• The Family Plan HMO from 8 years ago cost $856.
• In 2008 it rose to $1023.
• Then (DESPITE a WORSE plan with higher deductibles that we were enrolled in after our last contract in order to save the District money) it rose yet again to $1587.
• Finally, in July of this year it reached a whopping $1711, all in a matter of 8 years. (If you have PPO, they've risen even more).

While we have had - I believe - four or five 3% raises since 2005, barely keeping us in line with inflation and definitely lower than our suburban counterparts, our healthcare costs have more than doubled for what is, effectively, a worse plan. Here are the numbers if you want to check how your rates have doubled since 2005:

2005: http://web.archive.org/web/20061210024701/http://www.pfthw.org/chartmcp.htm

2008: http://web.archive.org/web/20081003220853/http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/b/benefits/programs--services/cobra#grouprates

2011: http://web.archive.org/web/20111205004409/http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/b/benefits/programs--services/offices/b/benefits/open-enrollment/continuant-coverage

2013: http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/uploads/m6/Mm/m6MmlPPmai5F5fRXakry9w/COBRARATES.pdf

Call it what you will, a 13% contribution to healthcare ("without salary reductions") is in fact a 5% salary reduction. Even worse, it is a 5% salary reduction that will balloon into a 10% salary reduction in a few short years if healthcare cost trends continue, and there is no reason to believe they won't. (Math teachers, correct me if I'm wrong here!)

I was ready to go to the PFT meeting on Monday and vote a resounding "NO!" on this proposal. Many other PFT members on message boards across the Internet have expressed that they will do the same. After all, the last contract was only ratified by 2/3 of the members after they found out that "Renaissance Schools" would be introduced into the district, and we see what damage they have done to our job security. (http://www.pft.org/docs/26191_pft_v5.pdf) In fact, the PFT Constitution also allows for recall votes if the membership feels its leadership does not properly "represent the viewpoint of the PFT before legislative and public groups." You can view the PFT Constitution here: http://www.pft.org/intranet/docs/22717_PFT_F_Constitution.pdf

After I calmed down, I realized that the PFT has NEVER negotiated in public - let alone told the press what it is proposing at the negotiating table before it actually negotiates it behind closed doors. Immediately following Jordan's press conference, the School District and Governor's Office prompty issued a response stating the proposed healthcare givebacks and salary freeze are not enough. The District wants more and Corbett would still refuse to release the $45 million - even if we agreed to these proposals during a membership vote. Read their response here: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/59092-philly-school-district-says-teachers-union-giveback-offer-not-enough?linktype=hp_topstory

So, did Jerry Jordan actually cave in to the District's demands or was this a public relations stunt to show that the PFT is willing to meet the City, State, and District halfway - even though Jordan knew they wouldn't take the bait - in order to put us in a positive light? I'm not sure... Draw your own conclusions. All I can say is that Monday is going to be a VERY INTERESTING meeting and, to all my fellow PFTers: make sure you COME OUT AND VOTE!

An Open Letter to Mayor Nutter

Dear Mayor Nutter,

I am a Philadelphia School District teacher, parent, resident, and registered Democratic voter who found your remarks from last week's press conference regarding the situation with the district to be extremely insulting. You stated that I and my fellow teachers in the PFT are the only ones who have yet to financially contribute to the school funding solution. What gall!

Last year, the PFT gave $58 million to the financially strapped School District, more than the city and state, combined, have contributed thus far. Here's the article in case your memory fails you: http://articles.philly.com/2011-10-14/news/30279455_1_financial-crisis-health-benefits-financial-relief  That money, by the way, came from the PFT's Health & Welfare Fund, managed by the union and the union's accountants. The PFT keeps sound financial footing and makes sure to keep its books in check, which resulted in that surplus. Unfortunately, the SRC cannot do the same with the District's books but they don't seem to mind... They would rather balance them on the backs of the hardworking members of the PFT.

On top of that, I must buy my school supplies every year for an underfunded and understaffed school building while continuing to work under sub-standard conditions and lower pay than my counterparts in other districts. What kind of professional, other than a Philadelphia school teacher, is FORCED to buy their own copy paper, year in and year out. I have bought my classroom computer out of my own pocket and a projector out of my own pocket, just so my students aren't compelled to learn under a 20th century model without the slightest access to technology. In a GOOD year, I spend over $1000 out of my own salary on basic supplies and upkeep for my vastly underfunded school - housed in a building, by the way, that dates from the 1930s. Now, you expect me and my colleagues to give up nearly 15% of our salary because of a manufactured state crisis which we did not create?

I am attaching a picture of the boxes of paper I must buy in order to have a successful school year, again out of my own pocket.

In closing, Mr. Mayor, let me ask you... WHAT HAVE YOU CONTRIBUTED OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET?

Sincerely,

--George Bezanis