Anyone wondering whether the economic recovery is taking hold might want to take a look at yesterday’s announcement of massive layoffs from the Philadelphia School District.
Faced with a mammoth $629 million budget deficit, officials announced plans to slash 4,000 jobs, including 1,200 teachers unless the District gets more aid from the city, state or federal governments which doesn’t appear likely in the current economic environment. Philadelphia’s situation, sadly, is not unique.
The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimates that at least 21 states are proposing cuts in public school aid as they look to balance their own budgets in the wake of declining support from the federal government. For instance, Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour, who recently decided against running for president, will fail to meet the state’s statutory obligation for school funding for the fourth year in a row. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing a $1.5 billion, or 7.3 percent, cut to state education aid.
‘This cut would delay, for the third year in a row, implementation of a court order to provide additional education funding to under-resourced school districts,” CBPP says. “It would also come on top of a substantial education aid reduction in the current fiscal year.”
Philadelphia is facing a $292 million cut in state aid under the proposed budget by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R). As the the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, there is little chance that the money will be restored given that Republicans are solidly im control of the Legislature. Corbett was elected on a pledge not to increase taxes or fees and even though some argue that he should levvy some sort of tax or fee on the state’s booming natural gas business in the Marcellus Shale region.
Unfortunately, education is not a problem that can be solved with money alone. There are countless examples of states pouring millions of dollars into school district with little to show taxpayers for their investments. Though it’s easy to lay the blame on teachers for this situation, the reality is more complicated.
Schools are being asked to cope with a host of societal problems, such as drugs, single parent households and unemployment, that they were not a generation or two ago. Nearly 8 million children lack health insurance and one-in-four is at risk of hunger, according to the National Education Association. Teachers, though, need a fiscal realty check.
Districts waste boatloads of money rewarding teachers who receive masters degrees even though there is little evidence that indicates that the advanced degrees makes them any better at their jobs. The evidence is not there that shows that raising teacher pay boosts student achievement either. Teachers also need to realize that their generous benefits, such as free or reduced price health care, are no longer affordable.
Finally, districts need to quit taking the attitude that cutting one penny from their budgets will create calamitous results such as the loss of the high school football team. It is not clear how much gamesmanship is going on in Philadelphia, but politics can get pretty dicey in the City of Brotherly Love. For instance, controversial Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerkman decided earlier this year to defer a $100,000 retention bonus after the media made a fuss about it.
Sadly, these types of fiscal shenanigans are not uncommon in the education world. Real reform is desperately needed. Billions are being sent down a fiscal black hole under the current way of doing business. Our nation’s children deserve better.
–Jonathan Berr
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