Tom Ferrick Jr. | Give Vallas credit, and the lion's share of blame

When a government is spending more than it is taking in, there are only four ways that I know of to remedy the situation.

One: Lower spending to meet revenue available. Two: Increase revenue, usually through higher taxes, to cover the spending. Three: Do some combination of one and two.

(A note here: The federal government has the additional option of borrowing to cover its deficits - and lordy does it ever! - but local governments do not.)

The fourth option, and a very popular one, is what I call "pretend and spend."

Pretend that the money needed somehow, someday will appear and include it in your budget calculations. Don't make unpopular cuts. Don't raise taxes. Just pretend and spend.

As it turns out, Paul Vallas was a master of pretend and spend.

Before the CEO of the Philadelphia School District departed (fled?) for New Orleans, he engaged in several years of pretend and spend at the district.

What we just witnessed in the last week is the aftermath of Vallas' ploy:

Rancorous meetings of the School Reform Commission, punctuated with shouts and cries from angry parents, accompanied by showboating by Mayor Street, over the SRC's plans to employ Option One and cut about $180 million from its $2.2 billion budget for next school year.

It was entertaining, but it was sad because the anger in the room was misdirected. Folks were upset at the SRC members for acting like adults and trying to live within the reality of the money available.

In the end, they persuaded the SRC to engage in a modified spend and pretend. The commission made $100 million in cuts, but held off on an additional $80 million or so, in the hope that the state and city will make up the difference.

The state and the city will not, so more cuts are inevitable, only they will be worse because they will occur in the middle of the school years and will have to be deeper because they were delayed.

On his way out of town, Vallas responded by saying the deficit is not as bad as it seems (even though it amounts to nearly 10 percent of the district's total budget); that he spent the money for a good cause (programs that were popular); and that the good he did in his years as CEO far outweighs the financial difficulties now facing the district.

I admire what Paul Vallas did as superintendent. He brought incredible energy to the task. He restored faith and hope about the schools. He did a lot of good.

But what he did with the budget was deliberate deception. He knew he was spending more than he had and he hid that fact until it got too big to hide. There is a word for this behavior and the word is malfeasance. You can look it up.

Enough about the financial fallout; let's look at the political side.

In listening to the speechifying before the SRC, I had a sense of déjà vu.

For 25 years, when it came to Philly schools, everyone responsible formed a circle and pointed at the other guy.

The city lambasted the state for not giving enough money. The state lambasted the city for not contributing its share. It was a circular argument with insidious effect, until the state takeover, when both sides put down their weapons, ponied up more for the schools, and decided to move forward.

The détente lasted for five years and in those five years great progress was made.

Now, what are we left with? The SRC says it will go to Harrisburg and ask for more money. A lot of money.

The likely - and legitimate answer - to those pleas will be: We gave you more money, but you screwed it up. You let Vallas run the district into the red on your watch. Now, suddenly, it's our problem and you want us to bail you out? Hmm.

The popular local view - that the state has a moral obligation to fund Philadelphia's public schools - is not widely held in Harrisburg, to put it mildly.

It took a lot of political good will and a rare aligning of the stars to get the state to move into the partnership that was created late in the Tom Ridge-Mark Schweiker administration.

The results have been improved schools and a better education for the children of Philadelphia.

Now, that progress is in peril, not because of the dollars and cents involved, but because of a fracturing of the political alliance that made the progress happen.

So, as he departs, let us give Paul Vallas credit he deserves for the good he did.

But, let's also give Vallas blame he deserves for the political and financial mess he left behind.

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