Parents: 'Not another school cut'

Overcrowding and budget cuts have sparked an upsurge in activism

by Paul Socolar

Photo: Matt Seaver

Last spring, as many Philadelphia schools got word that they would be losing teaching positions, parent groups across the city started to speak up about the threat of more overcrowded classrooms.

The staffing reductions announced last spring turned out to be the harbinger of much bigger budget problems to come. By fall, a $73 million budget shortfall was hanging over the School District.

But the parent protests last spring were also a harbinger. The fall has seen a citywide upsurge of parent involvement in budget issues. Parent activists have been insisting that District officials create forums for dialogue with parents - while successfully steering the focus of budget-cutting discussions away from school-based programs and onto private contracts.

Parents showed up in droves at specially scheduled School Reform Commission meetings in November, expressing anger about painful staffing cuts that took place last spring and this fall and demanding that District leaders find a way to protect school programs across the city from further damage due to the budget situation.

“We now have upwards of 285 classrooms overcrowded. This is wrong,” said Harry Levant, president of the Shawmont Home and School Association and a member of Parents United for Public Education, a new coalition that came together to fight school-based budget cuts.

“Do not implement a single additional cut without full and complete public input,” Levant told the SRC.

Many parents spoke out about an unpopular District decision to reassign 65 teachers six weeks into the school year rather than hire new teachers to relieve overcrowded classrooms.

For the first time in years, the District conducted “leveling” in October - reassigning teachers from some classrooms to relieve overcrowding elsewhere. One result was dozens of split-grade classrooms, and still many classrooms remained overcrowded. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said it filed a record number of grievances about classroom overcrowding.

Parents and other education advocates also expressed concern that the city and District have not been working closely to craft a joint solution to the District's budget shortfall.

“We've heard bickering between the city and District about gestures of accountability, but no commitment from either side to protecting our kids,” said Powel School parent Helen Gym, also a member of Parents United for Public Education.

At the first of the SRC's budget hearings on November 8, the CEO's budget-balancing plan was presented, with 60 specific recommendations for savings. The plan called for a total of almost $70 million in projected cutbacks. Key components included a proposal to negotiate a 10 percent across the board reduction in contracts as well as an immediate 20 percent reduction in central office staff.

District CEO Paul Vallas clarified that several controversial ideas circulating were not on the table, including reductions in nurses, librarians, counselors, school psychologists, and itinerant music teachers.

The School Reform Commission's initial round of cuts carefully avoided school-based programs. This batch of cuts primarily targeted central office personnel and private contractors.