Well, well, well! Corporate America at its corporate finest.
Do we hear the Empire's First Class Ruling Class screaming over cuts
to their children's education?
Of course not. The Ruling Class children are all in private schools
with all the best of everything, including well funded teachers. And
what is in store for the majority of Philadelphia's youth? Can we
say, "Boots on the Desert"? Of course we can.
It's a Bee You Tea Full Day in Corporate America.
Carl Jarvis
Philadelphia Teachers Irate After Losing Contract
PHILADELPHIA -- Oct 6, 2014, 6:11 PM ET
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
Associated Press
Philadelphia teachers vowed to fight a sudden move by the district
Monday that cancels their union contract and forces them to start
paying health premiums
of as much as $140 a month.
The teachers union, with about 15,000 members, accused the state-led
School Reform Commission of ratcheting up its "war on teachers."
However, district leaders said there was nothing else to cut after
years of funding woes that have prompted nearly $1 billion in cuts
that includes the
loss of 5,000 positions and the closure of 30 schools. Many
Philadelphia schools operate without a nurse or librarian on duty.
"If the contract is blown open, what's going to happen to things that
matter to our kids, (such as) student class size?" said Anissa
Weinraub, 34, a high
school English teacher who has gone through several layoffs and three
forced transfers in nine years. "I'm nervous about what else might be
imposed."
Both Superintendent William R. Hite and Philadelphia Federation of
Teachers President Jerry Jordan, along with Mayor Michael Nutter,
agreed that the problem
lies in the state funding formula for education.
"The cuts by the commonwealth over the last few years have had a
devastating financial impact on the school district and the quality of
education," Nutter
said. "There's no debate about that."
Hite nonetheless backed Monday's decision, saying the money would
yield more than $50 million a year for classroom and other needs.
"Requiring teachers and other employees to contribute to their health
care costs is a change and a sacrifice, but contributing to health
care benefits
is the reality of today's workplace," Hite said in a letter to parents.
The announcement came at a brief, hastily-called meeting of the School
Reform Commission early Monday. Jordan called the process "cowardly."
District officials said they have no plans to cut wages. Union members
would pay about $55 to $140 per month for health care premiums, and
face other benefit
cuts, starting in December, unless the move is challenged in court.
Jordan suggested that was likely.
The district, one of the nation's largest with 135,000 students,
perennially struggles with a structural deficit caused by rising
pension and health care
costs and payments to charter schools, which serve an additional
65,000 students.
The American Federation of Teachers called the vote Monday "a
well-planned Hail Mary ambush" by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who
faces a tough re-election
fight next month.
"Corbett's School Reform Commission has amped up a war on teachers and
support staff," AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement.
"The commission
would rather attempt to impose a contract than work with teachers to
figure out what is best for Philadelphia's kids."
Officials said the benefit concessions were on a par with those made
by administrators and other workers in recent years.
"Philadelphia families have made extraordinary sacrifices: students
come to school every day in buildings that lack critical resources
necessary for teaching
and learning," said SRC Chairman William J. Green, a longtime
Philadelphia councilman appointed to the post by Corbett earlier this
year. Corbett holds
three of five seats on the panel.
Corbett just two weeks ago signed off on a $2-a-pack cigarette tax in
Philadelphia, which city leaders had sought to raise $83 million a
year for the school
district.
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