Blocking better schools

Academic failure, school violence, and financial mismanagement have been the dubious hallmarks of the School District of Philadelphia for decades. In that time, there has been one constant actor fighting tooth-and-nail to maintain the unacceptable status quo in the city's education system: the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

The teachers' union mouths support for democratic values and claims to be the voice for thousands of Philadelphia teachers - all without having asked for teachers' votes for decades.

Of the nearly 8,500 teachers and staff currently in district schools, there might be one who was working in the district in 1965, when the PFT last held a union certification election to become the exclusive representative of all district teachers.

By any standard, this is absurd and goes against the grain of foundational American values.

Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson was president and the Vietnam War was raging. About two-thirds of Americans alive today had not yet been born.

After all that time without the checks and balances provided by free choice and competition, it's no surprise that the PFT has squelched innovation, resisted change, and sought to perpetuate its own power at any expense.

Let's not forget the consequences of this union monopoly: Amid the latest lawsuits, protests, tax hikes, and budget battles lie thousands of broken academic dreams.

In 2013, 80 percent of Philadelphia's students were not proficient in reading or math, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In the same year, according to the district, nearly 2,500 violent incidents occurred in its schools. The inhospitable learning environment that has persisted for decades has motivated one-third of district students to flee to charter schools, which have at least some modicum of regulatory freedom to operate outside this broken system.

Rather than embracing public charters as a complement to district-run schools, PFT leaders chose a different approach: They have engaged in an endless campaign of negativity, pitting charter schools "against" district schools in a zero-sum game that benefits no one - except the PFT.

Recently, PFT President Jerry Jordan called for a moratorium on new charters, blaming these popular schools of choice for the district's financial woes. This attack ignores the fact that charters spend and receive less money per student than district schools. But according to Jordan, "the argument for more school choice has no merit."

Beyond school choice, which serves as a precious lifeline for tens of thousands of families seeking better, safer educational options in Philadelphia, there are sensible policy changes that could reward, protect, and retain the district's best teachers, but PFT leaders actively lobby against such reforms.

Philadelphia schools are plagued by rigid seniority mandates that leave some of the most talented, effective teachers at risk of being laid off in the event of furloughs. Yet PFT leaders claim that seniority is not the problem, and they have taken legal action to protect the mandates. Union executives also oppose merit pay for the highest-performing teachers, claiming that "better pay, not performance pay," is the answer.

Despite an increase of $1 billion in revenue for Philadelphia schools over the last decade, PFT leaders repeatedly point to inadequate funding as an excuse for poor academic performance. And when Commonwealth Court ruled against a recent School Reform Commission decision that could have put an estimated $200 million into classrooms over the next four years, Jordan celebrated, declaring, "This is a very big victory."

A victory for whom exactly? Certainly not for students and families trapped in failing schools.

The priorities of Philadelphia's teachers' union have always been suspect. There's no better example than this: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, earns more than $550,000 per year. (PFT is a local of AFT.)

Further, AFT used $500,000 in teachers' dues not on professional development or to negotiate in teachers' best interests, but to run political attack ads in last year's gubernatorial election in Pennsylvania. On its website, PFT brags of turning out 2,000 members on Election Day and "canvassing every Philadelphia neighborhood" in support of Gov. Wolf.

How can partisan politics be the answer to Philadelphia's education problems when governors, legislators, and dozens of other elected officials of both parties have come and gone, all while the district's downward spiral has continued without an end in sight?

After 50 years of PFT's unchallenged reign, Philadelphia's students and poor families are desperate for an escape from generational poverty and are searching for help. It's time to start looking somewhere else.