Del Val Charter teacher to Philly School District: Failure to pay is hurting us

A teacher at beleaguered Delaware Valley Charter High School has asked the Philadelphia School District's top financial official to reconsider withholding $820,000 in payments to the school this summer.

The district said the charter school in Logan owes the money for overbilling for students in past years and failing to make required pension payments for teachers.

But Matthew Black, 27, who has taught math at the school for two years, said it's the teachers and other staffers who were hurt when the charter could not make payroll last week.

School wages are paid over 12 months, and the checks that staffers count on during the summer are for work they performed during the 2015-16 school year.

"I understand the position the district is in," Black wrote in a letter to Uri Monson, the district's chief financial officer. "However, I had no part in any financial mismanagement. The people who did take part are long gone."

Black agreed that Delaware Valley should repay the money it owes to the district. But he urged Monson to reach a deal with the school to allow it to pay over time, instead of withholding the charter's entire monthly payment for July and half of August.

Black wrote to Monson on Friday, and received a response Tuesday evening.

"He just said he was not trying to starve the school out and wanted to [withhold the money] in the summer," Black said.

Monson said he also had spoken by phone with another Delaware Valley teacher. "I explained our situation and what the issues are," Monson said.

Delaware Valley officials have said they believe that the withholding is part of a School Reform Commission scheme to close the school, but Monson said that was not the case. He said the SRC's vote not to renew Delaware Valley's operating charter for academic and financial reasons was a separate issue.

"That does not go into my calculus at all," Monson said. "Mine is based on a fiscal risk analysis."

He said he has a financial responsibility to safeguard taxpayer funds.

Monson said the district had sent Delaware Valley its payment in June to make sure students would be able to complete the school year. He said the withholding was set for the summer because it would be less disruptive.

Thomas Monson, president of the Delaware Valley board, who is not related to the district finance chief, told staff at a meeting Monday that the school was contacting officials and political leaders to ask them to "beseech" the district to allow the school to develop a repayment plan.

In an interview, Thomas Monson said the school has no financial reserves and was in no position to obtain a line of credit from a bank to pay employees.

Financial-management problems - as well as poor academic performance - were among the reasons the SRC cited when it voted in May not to renew the school's operating charter.

Delaware Valley officials have vowed to fight that decision at the state Charter Appeal Board, and the school would remain open during an appeal.

Thomas Monson said he urged the staff to stay on board without pay this summer to ensure that the school, which has enrolled 650 students, opens as planned in September.

He said that the charter was urging staff and parents to make their case to the SRC. But the commission is not scheduled to meet until Aug. 18, and he said the charter needs help sooner than that.

Thomas Monson also said that Delaware Valley's lawyers are exploring the option of seeking payment this summer from the state Department of Education.

A provision in state law allows charter schools to seek direct payment from the state when there are enrollment disputes. The department deducts that amount from a district's share of state funds and sends the money to the charter school.

However, in January the Education Department announced it would no longer allow charters to bill the state for payments when enrollment disputes are from prior years.

The department said a 2012 Commonwealth Court decision said that charters could seek state payment for claims only during a current school year.

More than half of the amount the Philadelphia School District is withholding from Delaware Valley this summer - $440,948 - is to recover payments for overbilling for students from 2011-12 through 2013-14. The remainder is mostly to cover contribution to teacher pensions.

When a charter fails to make pension payments, the money is deducted from funds a district receives from the state. The district recovers the money by withholding it from charter payments.