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Large-scale teacher protests are in prospect for Philadelphia after the city’s school board canceled a teachers’ union contract, an unprecedented move that could have ramifications for the upcoming gubernatorial election.
A spokesperson for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) said he expects to have the details of possible action “ironed out” by the end of the day.
“[Our members] are upset,” said union spokesman George Jackson. “They’re upset by the way it happened, and they’re upset by the disrespectful manner they’ve been treated. They want the public to know about it, and we’re going to do everything we can to facilitate that.”
The School Reform Commission (SRC), a five-member, governor-appointed board that controls the city’s school district, agreed to cancel the teachers’ contract and impose new terms relating to their healthcare contributions at a meeting on Monday. The committee approved charging employees of the 12,500-member union up to 13% of their paychecks for health insurance, and ending many retiree health benefits. The board justified the move by pointing to a multimillion-dollar deficit and almost two years of fruitless negotiations.
The nearly bankrupt school district could save $43.8m per year if the change withstands a test in court. Union members pay nothing for health insurance now.
A union spokesperson called the move “outrageous.” Philly.com led its online coverage with an editorial, calling the move an “act of staggering cowardice”.
“This is not an effort by the SRC to address the fiscal crisis. This is the Corbett administration’s attempt to vilify the PFT in order to distract from his horrible record on education funding and boost his chances of re-election,” said PFT president Jerry Jordan.
The move comes less than a month before a gubernatorial election, where the Republican incumbent is failing to woo voters, and the Pennsylvania teachers union came out in support of his Democratic rival.
Nevertheless, the SRC’s move puts the Philadelphia union in an uncomfortable position. The union is bound by state law from striking, even if there was the political will to undertake such an action, but not responding isn’t an option. Jordan said the union is examining the SRC’s legal case; the union has 20 days to plead its case in a state court.
Before the sudden end to negotiations Monday, the teachers’ union and the school district met 110 times over 21 months. The SRC has threatened to cancel the teachers’ contract in the past, and appears to have used such threats frequently during negotiations.
Still, the move surprised union members.
The SRC attempted to lobby for explicit permission to cancel contracts in the past, but failed. However, the committee claims that a Pennsylvania law amended in 2001, called Act 46, gives it the legal authority to do just that.
Union representatives only found out about the decision after it was made – a low-profile notification of the hastily scheduled meeting was printed in local newspapers’ legal classified ads, meeting legal requirements but eschewing the normal practice of announcing meetings on a district website.
Many Philadelphians siding with teachers frame the dispute as an attempt by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett to regain control of his campaign. The incumbent is down 21 points against his competitor, Democrat Tom Wolf. In fact, a leaked internal poll advised Corbett to attack teachers’ unions for just that reason.
“Staging this battle presents Corbett with an opportunity to coalesce his base, focus on a key emerging issue in the state, and campaign against an ‘enemy’ that’s going to aggressively oppose him in ’14 in any case,” the poll leaked to City Paper concludes.
“I have said for many months that the solution to the school funding crisis in Philadelphia must involve all parties stepping up to make sacrifices for the benefit of the district’s students,” said Corbett in a statement. “Philadelphia is one of only two districts across the commonwealth that pays zero towards healthcare. It is now time that members of the PFT join the thousands of public school employees across the state who already contribute to their health care costs.”
Whatever the motives, the need for money in the Philadelphia school system is undisputed.
Philadelphia schools superintendent William R Hite Jr threatened to delay the opening of schools if an $81m shortfall wasn’t addressed, and later proposed a list of deep cuts. For instance, transportation was cut for around 7,500 high school students who live within two miles of school. Around 300 slots in dropout prevention programs were cut, 27 elementary schools now share police offices, police positions are unfilled and around 20 administrative workers were laid off. The state legislature approved a Philly-only $2 cigarette tax to shore up the district’s finance. In 2013, there were reports of Philly teachers crowdfunding school supplies.
Despite the anger and cynicism surrounding the SRC’s decision, some are skeptical that the committee undertook the change for political reasons. Terry Madonna, a political pollster at Franklin & Marshall College, said he doubts the move could help the governor at the polls.
“The voters [for the first time in this state] rank education as the number one issue,” Madonna said. He said the narrative of Corbett’s governorship is one of “property tax hikes, teacher and staff layoffs, and program curtailment.”
“I don’t know that just going after a union contract in Philadelphia does much,” he said.
Canceling a teachers’ union contract is largely unprecedented. One of the only comparable cases shows the gamble district officials are willing to take. Following the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 7,000 teachers in New Orleans, Louisiana, were laid off. A judge ruled in favor of the teachers; estimated damages could run to $1.5bn.
