by proldic » Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:59 pm
Philadelphia School Privatization <br>They Want to Destroy Our Schools <br> <br>By Justin Harrison — CWA Local 13000, Philadelphia <br> <br>As in other big cities, the Philadelphia School District is in crisis. Cut after cut in federal and state funding has taken its toll. There are often no books, no bathrooms, no heat or air conditioning, and sometimes no running water, not to mention not enough teachers and too many students in classes. <br> <br> <br>Exploiting public concern about the education crisis, big business is seizing the opportunity to push its agenda. They want public education to better serve their needs, and to shift the costs and responsibility for education directly onto the working class. <br><br>Their solution? Let the market rule. Privatization. That means making teachers work harder for less, and driving down support costs by closing schools and contracting out services. <br><br>Manipulating public concern about education, Pennsylvania Governor Schweiker engineered a fiscal crisis in the Philadelphia Public School District that enabled him to take over the city schools. He then put all 264 city public schools into the hands of an appointed School Reform Commission (SRC). <br><br>In its first strike the SRC selected 70 schools with low standardized test scores for "reform." 19 schools will be "reconstituted" by dismissing all the teachers and hiring new ones. 9 schools will become charter or independent schools, 42 will be privatized, 28 will be run by for-profit companies, 6 will go to nonprofit management companies or community organizations, and 8 will be "partnered" with a university. Depending on the "success" or failure of each model, more privatizations will be pushed through in 2003. <br><br>But the real cause of the crisis in public education in Philadelphia, as in other cites, has been a systematic starving of funds from public education. Of the ten most populous states, Pennsylvania was second to last in the percentage of state dollars going into public schools. <br><br>State funding for public education has fallen 12.4% since 1990, to only 38% of the total funding. A generation ago Pennsylvania funded 50% of public education. Today, Pennsylvania would need to increase funding for public education by $1.5 billion to return to that target. <br><br>For-profit education companies like Edison Schools Inc., the nation's largest for-profit manager of public schools, stand ready to step into the breech. Edison is in the news lately: its stock has taken a pounding as questions are raised about its bookkeeping and its failure to win contracts for all 42 privatized Philadelphia Schools (it only got 20). Though Edison has yet to make a profit in its ten years, it appears that big business would rather pour its millions into keeping Edison afloat than properly fund public education. <br><br>Under pressure to cut costs and privatize services, our children's health has already been sacrificed, with our schools becoming a dumping ground for agribusiness products that can't be sold on the open market. This has led to a 10% per year increase in food poisonings in our public schools, according to a congressional study (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/1/02). <br><br>In pushing through their program, the SRC has run into opposition from the community, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT), and the School Students Union. The School Students Union has led a courageous fight with pickets, demonstrations, and occupations. The SRC was quick to give the students a modern big business civics lesson by getting an injunction to prevent the students from picketing commission meetings. <br><br>The PFT has focused on preserving teachers' seniority rights and has moved through the courts to attempt to stop the state takeover. However, the PFT and the SRC are on a collision course and events may overtake them. The SRC has threatened to close schools and reopen them as non-union unless the PFT gives the "reforms" they need. <br><br>A broad coalition against the attacks on education has been formed. It needs to take its campaign to every household in Philadelphia and expose the devastating effects of budget cuts as the cause of the crisis in education, not the fact that schools are publicly run. It was the mass struggles of previous generations that forced public officials to fund education for working class children. To take funds out of the public school system – a direct result of privatization – will weaken our public schools and take us backwards, not forwards. <br><br>• No Privatization or Commercialization of our Schools – No Vouchers <br><br>• No Cuts in Education Funding – Tax big business and rich to restore full funding for public schools <br><br>• No Layoffs of Teachers and School Workers <br><br>• Quality education requires well-paid teachers – Raise teachers' wages and benefits <br><br>• Massively increase the number of teachers, to dramatically reduce class size <br><br>• Take control of schools out of big business sponsored politicians, and put in hands of school employees, parents and students <br><br>• Money for Jobs and Education, not War<br> <br> <p></p><i></i>
