Unions didn't create school-funding mess

THE PHILADELPHIA School District is out of money. This is a fact. Now ask yourselves why. It is not because of teachers' salaries and benefits. Philadelphia teachers do not have comparable compensation equal to their peers across the state. That is also a fact. However, Philadelphia teachers spend a higher percentage of their salaries directly on their students. This is also a fact. The reason the District is out of money is because of mismanagement of the funds allotted the children of this city by the State of Pennsylvania's School Reform Commission.

The teachers and staff have received modest increases in compensation over the last 13 years that the SRC has been in charge. Every penny fought for by our unions. The money that should have been used to educate the children of this city is in the pockets of the incompetent superintendents hired by the SRC. This is also a fact. I know these are facts because, before I became a teacher 13 years ago, I was an active parent watchdog as part of the Philadelphia Home & School Association and a member of the Home & School Council for the last two years that I had children attending Frankford High School.

Unions did not create this mess. As a teacher, I work hard for the money that I earn. I spend much of my personal time grading papers, calling parents, working after school with my students without compensation. I even pay my own expenses and spend weekend time with students at contests out of the city overnight because my students deserve it. That is fine with me. I choose to do these things because I believe that the children of Philadelphia deserve a chance to grow up and have a good life. We all know that rarely happens without an education.

What the powers that be are not making public is that schools are understaffed, without adequate supplies, and with administrators who are being asked to do impossible jobs without any support. Buildings that have not been adequately maintained over the years are a huge waste of money. During the winter months we have to open all the windows in our rooms just so we can breathe because the heating systems are inefficient and spew out massive amounts of heat that cannot be regulated properly. Talk about wasting money. Have you paid a heating bill lately? We use antiquated copy machines that constantly break down because they are not made for making thousands of copies each day. This is necessary because the SRC has cut budgets beyond the bone and students have outdated books that are 10 or more years old and falling apart. Copies are the only way the students will have to reinforce what they are learning.

Beyond money, the SRC has tied the hands of the administrators to discipline students who disrupt the education of others on a daily basis. Students who are in desperate need of mental-health care are not getting it and they are sitting in schools making it impossible for teachers to teach and students to learn.

I agree that money will not fix everything, but it will go a long way to helping the children of Philadelphia become productive citizens. I cannot do my job of educating without responsibility being shared with the student and the families of those students. I am held accountable if a student does not do his homework. I am held accountable if my student does not pick up a pencil to do work in the classroom. I am held accountable if I give a student a failing grade when the student has done nothing all year. Not the student, not the parents. Until these practices change, the superintendent's goals of all children reading on grade level will never happen. I have students in 8th grade who cannot read, and somehow that is my fault.

The SRC not only wants staff to take a 13 percent pay cut, but they also want to change work rules; for example, by raising class size. The newest buzz phrase in education is "research-based." However, it is only used when convenient. It is a well-known researched fact that the lower the class size, the more productive learning is.

So, citizens before you go to the polls for upcoming elections, think about some of the "facts" you are being fed. Ask the hard questions and then get the true answers. Make no mistake about it; money will be spent on the children of Philadelphia. As a taxpayer, I would rather see my tax dollars spent on educating children than incarcerating them. How about you?