NEA.org
UPDATE: A $3.2 million deal has apparently been reached keep operating the cash-strapped Chester-Upland School District, a district spokesman confirmed to the The Delaware County Daily Times this afternoon.
As Ed reported last night, the entire school district is on the verge of closing down and leaving thousands of students out in the cold.
The Chester Upland School District outside Philadelphia only has $100,000 left in the bank. Republican Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett slashed more than $8 million from the budget last year. The district, which serves one of the most impoverished populations in the state, relies on state aid for about 80 percent of budget.
Cutting public education is a top agenda for Governor Corbett. Last fall, he said his number one priority as governor is school voucher legislation.
The Chester Upland District pays more than $39 million a year to area charter schools. The charter school payments, the cut in state aid and massive debt are overwhelming. The school is unable to make payrolls or pay its bills. But teachers and other faculty are working without pay to keep the school running.
Court documents outlining the $3.2 million agreement still need to be signed by U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson and filed with the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. That's expected to happen later today.
The agreement does not end a lawsuit filed by the Chester Upland School Board against the state it rejected a request for $18.7 million in funding, saying the district had mismanaged its finances.
The $3.2 million is intended to span the gap between now and the week of Feb. 20, when district and state officials are due back before Baylson for a hearing about the lawsuit on a date yet to be finalized.
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thats a good thing if it comes off!!!!!!!!!
now if we can also work on this very sad part of the wrong/right wing agenda.
PENNSYLVANIA SLASHES 88,000 CHILDREN FROM MEDICAID ROLLS | The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare reveals that 88,071 children were cut from the Medicaid rolls since August as a result of the department Secretary Gary Alexander’s (R) efforts to “reduce waste, fraud, and abuse.”
This is Sad Piliot Shark. Children are the causality of the war they have waged in the United States. Last numbers 1.6 million children are homeless. Many have no food, no health care. This is the face of the GOP !!!! Keep the wealthy and turn there backs on those who have no voice. It makes me so mad !!!!
soon those commereal you see where the guy is walking around asking how much could you send the little girl or boy in some 3rd world nation.
Well sadly if a republican gets in office
that country and those kids will be ours!!!!! and be asking some other country to send money for us.
Let's see, who is president now? I don't think the GOP has much to do with the current poverty rate!
30 yrs of voodo economics proves you wrong.
The ranks of the "poor" have not been this high since the Great Depression. At least the "voodo econmics" kept folks working and off the dole!
Denial is not a river in Egypt cap.
Having a republican majority in the House, and filibustering EVERYTHING that goes through the Senate, means that just because a democrat sits in the White House, he is not a king, emperor, or tyrant who can change the laws to suit his whims.
The economy crashed under George W. Bush. We are slowly coming out of that recession.
So you see my point! Thanks. I just wish others on this blog could understand what Obama is doing to this country, too.
BTW: "Denial is not just a river in Egypt". I know, I have typos all the time, too! Any lately the site won't accept my changes about half the time.
You are correct cap, the ranks of the poor have not been this high since the great depression, and voodo economic has kept it that way.
Thank you Ed Schutz and MSNBC for helping shine the national light on this situation that needed it for sure !! You helped make this happen !
Obama is in charge now, and the is not using voodoo economics! Reaganomics gave us 17 years of prosperity, check out the stock market or most other economic indicators for 1983-2000. Fact, not spin.
Obama's stimulus would have worked even better if neoCon governors had not fought to cut back on State spending...
Exactly Lakesia . . . Our President does not operate in a vacuum . . . he HAS TO HAVE the cooperation of Congress to get major things done . . .
Although the list of his accomplishments . . . IN SPITE OF Right-Wing agendas to the contrary of what he would like to do for America . . . is pages and pages long !!
Keep exposing the lunacy in PA. Public schools in the state, particularly those in inner cities and urban neighborhoods are being targeted to be closed or changed to Charter or Promise academies. We need to make sure that promises should be made and met to all of PA's children, not just charter schools. If we allow this to continue, we will wake up one day and have no public schools.
Keep up the fight Ed. God bless!
cap crunch, we are still under voodo economics. The filibuster party has seen to that. I guess you forgot about the recession we were in when ronnie raygun left office. GHWB unemplyment rate was at 7.5% when he left office. The only people that prospered was the top 2%. I reckon you just don't pay alot of attention to detail cap.
capt birther,
you are absolutely wrong on who is responsible for the "ranks of the poor".
do some research on how president reagan ran for office on low taxes, small gov't, and low deficits.
when he ran for gov. of california he ran the same way and did exactly the opposite. he did the same thing when he ran for president, leaving his term as president with the biggest deficit ever, the biggest gov't ever, and he raised taxes 11 times at least.
he raised taxes after he gave corporations the biggest tax cut ever, to deal with the impending deficit. do you get that?
republicans have been the ones who have contributed most to the debt and deficit of this country. the only time we hear them squawk about the size of gov't and the defict are when a democrat holds the office of the presidency. the reason for this is because they love to call democrats out for what they themselves are doing. they do it in regard to everything. this is called REPUB DEFLECTION.
both parties have done their share, but the repubs hold the largest part of the responsibility.
eric cantor is another repub who doesn't like to be reminded of the cognitive dissonance in regard to ronald reagan.
do some research.
There is a war on and the left needs to wake up to see it.
Exsqueeze me very respectfully Paul Campbell . . . who do you think is out there starting movements like the 99 % . . . are you really asking a sincere question there ?
Epty movement. Half of them will not vote. The right know this and they have put roadblocks up to stop the other half. Occupy is a good start but when your opposition decides to take the gloves off while you are still thinking it is a pillow fight, you will lose.
Look at what the states are doing. The right no longer cares about votes---wonder why?
I know that more facts are needed but this situation is uncalled for. This is definitely a further attack on the less fortunate. It is nothing new when it comes to funding schools in poorer neighborhoods. I grew up in a middle class suburb where there seemed to be plenty of funds for the schools. I taught in an inner city school where the opposite was true. It appears to me that there are some people in this country that do not want all children to learn so they put whatever roadblocks they can in their way such as limiting funding. To maintain our democracy, we have to make sure that all children have an opportunity to have a quality education. Libertarianism is not the way to go and will eventually fail in this country because it is too focused on a few and too self-centered. Education cannot and should not be viewed strictly as a business. Yes, the funds have to be spend wisely but it needs to be proportionately based on the students to be educated.
djj-951919:
The real problem with their theory is that if they succeed in dumbing-down education they too will become victims...
They will be taught a misleading revisionist history, no science and the arts would be destroyed!
Lakeisha: So good to see you. The GOP fears an educated electorate. Get 'em while they're young. They do not want the poor or working class to be properly educated. People who've attend good schools tend to believe the Earth is older than 6000 years. They tend to believe evolution is a fact, like climate change. The tend NOT to join the T-party.
We are already reading revisionist history. I probably don't have to tell you that.
Thank Heavens someone is stepping up to the plate for the children. Sounds like there's another Governor needs to find the door ! His priority are vouchers. Disgusting !!!
So vouchers are disgusting? Do you really think a government school is always better than private? Our collegiate system seems to function quite well with public and private schools.
Why can only rich kids go to private schools? Oh yeah, some of our liberal elites wouldn't want their kids to go to school with "those" kids! Come on Paul, Pilot, djj, and Pam, poor kids should have the same opportunities as everyone else! Show a little compassion for those in need!
well then the next time they have to cut money it should be from a rich school district cause they will be able to recoup the loss money,,, why is it always the poor!!//
well WE all know why.
No, why don't you tell us. As a businessman, I don't continue to put money in a losing venture. I find one that is doing well, and move my capital from the loser.
With Charter Schools and Vouchers, good alternatives can grow where the government schools are failing. Explain why you want to keep poor kids in bad schools? Please.
Charter schools are not the answer. They are unaccountable for the funds that flow into them and their teachers are not required to have the education it takes to teach our children. How do you shutter an underperforming charter school?
Standardized tests, state and local health codes, and concerned parents choosing the schools that fit their expectations. All schools must meet certain educational standards, and those should be set by the state, not the fed.
Who knows what is best for children, the government or their parents. Again, I want freedom for the parents to choose where they want to send their own children. Progressive liberals don't want to extend such freedom.
PAM52: This is my home state and since Tom Corbett and the GOP legislature took over, I am stunned by the terrible policy decisions they have taken.
We had, for years, been a bastion of Democratic thinking and policy. Ed Rendell was a wonderful governor who cared about the people of the Keystone state. These people have taken over completely and decimated everything we fought for for years and years. We've been taken over. I never would have believed it. We'll be the next Wisconsin.
Which state goes down next? I'll tell you, Pam, if WI loses to the big money pouring in for Walker, it's over for the rest of us. It is getting real strange. This election in November could change the face of the nation. Vote Democrat!
Thank you, Ed, for all you've done to help the people of Wisconsin.
Really so then just Texas or Maine or something are competing with China and Europe the other states aren't....please explain why kids in one state should have different standards than kids in another...last I checked geography didn't change what you needed to know........
now of course there's the reality you either aren't aware of or neglect to mention that local communities right now have considerable influence of what's taught that why in the backwards south they refuse to teach evolution as science........or that adjacent school districts have different numbers of credits for graduation....so the local communities have proven that they can not do this job right becuae guess what most parents in America do very little parenting so your little Capt. doesn't work when it hinges on that idea
There need to be strong federal standards that will make all students and thus this country competitive.......you see people like the Capt. don't believe that we should take hints from countries whose public education systems are beating our own.....why? no good reason
no ignorant conservatives don't want a system where ALL students will receive a good education so they continue to bounce and take money out of education as part of their "reforms" pretending that it will help the economy and the debt
If you want to raise percentages allocated to charter schools, that's one thing. Flat out abandoning a school district - underperforming, mismanaged and all - is just wrong. What are those kids and parents supposed to do? Why are they singled out for breaking the social compact of expecting public education be made available to their children? If you don't like how the district is performing, you can't just give up on it. That's just not allowed. This is still the USA.
and that`s exactly why this is crap.
" As a businessman, I don't continue to put money in a losing venture."
well Pubic School are not business and well there is no such thing as losing venture when it comes to children!!!! and especially POOR kids.
how about hitting up those rich school districts, they can afford to give up some to help out others.
hell that`s called being a American and believing in Americanism!
Pilot: "there is no such thing as losing venture when it comes to children!!!!".
Oh yes there is. If a school is failing to teach, it is a losing venture.
sorry but i have to disagree about 70% of public school students graduate and out of those only about 32% are academically qualified to attend a 4 year college so basically public schools are failing OUR children
ps average cost in my area for public school per student is $18,000
and i still have to send school supplies for my kids things that when i went to school were provided by the school .my 14 teen year old knows more about sex ed ,gay rights, birth control and every liberal policy than the three R's
If kids know more about those things...then you need to look futher than the class room...don't blame public school teachers for that!! It's ridiculous. When I was growing up I lived in a refinery town. Everyone was UNION and proud of it. The Oil refineries paid a large tax rate and ALL kids got a decent education. No-one was really rich but no-one was really poor. When the rich and corporations don't pay their fair share...it hurts everyone! We are not going to let all these corporations get away with treason for shipping our jobs off to foreign countries for larger profits and then justify it by saying we are lazy!! They need to understand that they have a duty to this country just like we all do!! You people that hate our government and our president...just move to mexico or somewhere else.We americans are sick of the whining!!
I don't know who YOU PEOPLE you are referring to but i love this country fought for this country and will fight again if called to and as for hating this President on the contrary i admire him for achieving the position that he has as for his vision for this country that's where we part company.don't blame companies for shipping jobs oversees when we Americans want as much as we can get for as cheap as we can get it i was a union electrician for 10 years and watched many buy non union and not American made just to have more and then complain about sitting on the bench and i have no ill will toward my brothers and sisters it was with the hall itself and the bully tactics they employed against non union companies that finally made me leave.I am not saying all locals are like that i'm sure they are not but mine left a bad taste in my mouth
Oh so you want the right to demand the wages you sell your work for to be the most you can get but everyone else should just take whatever the company wants to pay them and be happy they got a job. Never fails to surprise me how there is always that double standard with the republican supporter. They earned it no one else has.
And Captain America, here is some of what is wrong with your "I don't continue to put money in a failing venture" logic. First off, this isn't a company where profit is the sole reason you're there. This is about kids being guaranteed a high school education in this country. Other major point, if we don't educate these kids we will be paying more for them for the rest of their lives - in welfare an in prison costs, because we didn't give them the tools they needed to succeed on their own.
Again, I totally agree that if the district is being mismanaged, fire those responsible and put other people in place. Reorganize until the cows come home, fine. But I am reminded of another captain in the news who bailed in his responsibilities when things got tough. He's going to prison for that. Seriously, Corbett was skirting that line by defunding this district. Completely unacceptable.
You missed my point, Pete (and Pilot): schools should be treated like corporations, and should go away if they cannot make kids successful. I want all kids educated, as do you. We agree don't we?
If a district cannot perform its mission to educate, parents should have an alternative to insure their children's future. Choice is what made this country great. Our University system is still the gold standard for the world, because of the competition of both public and private colleges. That competition for funding is what is missing, and could improve our schools at the Primary and Secondary levels!
Pete, I am not familiar with your particular reference, just glad to hear the system worked and the bad guy got caught. (Maybe an investigation of a certain presidential candidate would be in order - sorry, I just couldn't resist.)
Hey mr America...are you saying a government military didn't work for you?? You seem to be able to verse yourself well enough. Why is it okay for the government to be there for you but not for our most treasured investment...our children! Just like our military...the government has it's place!!
No while you would say let a "bad" school just die the rest of us say fix to make it work. What you would like to see is something like this: say we have a building that's falling over, it's in bad shape........you would say build another building to do that building's job better....while we would say fix the building that's there instead trying to build a whole new one
in business the government must allow ventures to fail however business is not public education so why would you like to see the government allow public schools(who run on tax payer money) be allowed to fail essentially wasting that money? Businesses must be allowed to fail public schools should not accept such a stnadard, success is the only option because success for all in public education is more than possible in business it is not
government is not business nor should it be run like one because business is designed to help individuals, governments should not help individuals it should be there to help everyone that's what makes them different.
At the turn of the century America needs an educated society to continue being world leaders!
There will be a back lash from this over-reach!!!
Let's hope so Lakeisha, with the change in government next November! We cannot handle another 4 years of his inept leadership!
and put America's most flip floppy mormon in office, ooh or america's most unscrupulous politician, or perhaps America's next theocratic wacko.....or maybe sir ooops a lot perry............no
You lost the best candidate yesterday so this field is now 100% a pathetic joke
Maybe the state should vote more republican into office, alone with more tea party members also. They got what they wanted here in Pa. Now comes the rip off. Maybe we should do what Wisconsin did a recall.
Well Mr America USMC I haven't really seen any poverty under your "socialistic"
military paid by the US government Don't bite the hand that feeds you!!
Just try to check into the base hospital's emergency room sometime, and you will see what a "socialistic" system give you. We pay extra for "Tricare Plus", but still use a local doctor (with a co-pay) to avoid BAMC (the military hospital in San Antonio).
BTW, I earned my retirement whether you want to believe it or not. I do thank God everyday that I am still above ground, a lot of my buddies never made it.
Sorry, I didn't mean to unload, just please remember your military retired neighbors earned their benefits. Please.
Oh you earned yours by milking the tax payer for everything you earned. And just how did you earn it capt? Yet no one else has earned theirs? Funny how you always play the military card when you get into trouble like somehow that gives you a free pass for dumping on everyone else.
The GOP has a goal-Don't educate the poor- that way they will never be a problem for the rich, but they will work for slave wages. They want to privatize everything. If I am wealthy I can buy a school and set the price for your child to attend. If you can scrimp and save to send your children to my school and I can get rich- at the same time--I will probably get some great tax breaks.These people are just hateful and selfish!
Talk about making a straw man to hate! Ely, you are making a lot of assumptions about hardworking wealthy people. Most wealthy entrepreneurs are bemoaning the lack of education coming from our current school system. Someone here sounds sort of "hateful and selfish!", don't you think?
And what do you think cutting 4 billion from education will accomplish here in texas by your hero rick oops perry? Take us out of the bottom five ranking in the nation for sat/act scores? Damn you people are dense.
Capt America, there is a major flaw in treating public schools like a corporation. You can't fire an underperforming student. Yes, you can fire teachers and administators but that student is still underperforming until you can put something in place where that student gets one on one help or at least some type of differentiated learning. How many corporations do you know that will invest one on one training on their employees that are underperforming? What about the employees that they have that are special needs? Or the ones that have learning disablities. How many great corporations do you know that accept anyone into their company no matter what their IQ? Even your argument about having grade schools run like colleges or universities is flawed. Have you applied to a college before? You do know that the most successful colleges are very strict on who they accept into their institution. Parents do not have the choice of what college they want their child to go to, unless they have lots of money or political power. So are you saying that we should pick what students get to go to school? Are you going to be the one that decides their fate?
All kids, whatever their talent or ability level should be able to attend a local school. Special needs students bring a stipend to whatever school they attend. All students should be able to apply to special "Magnet Schools" that will meet their outstanding talent, academic ability, or creativity. The same goes for special needs kids.
No Matt, parents should decide where their children go to school, not the state! You must be new, I am a "personal freedom", not a "government control" person.
no capt your thought process still revolves around the idea that some schools should be allowed to perform at crap level, so hey how about a strong enough system where parents can end their kids to any school and KNOW they will get a good education
guess what it's very possible but not by cutting billions from public education like so many republican governors like to do or by gettinng the federal government out or some other right wing one liner
What about the students that have no outstanding talent? Do local schools become only for the untalented students? What will the local schools performance be like without all the top students? Magnet Schools are a wonderful concept but even if it was a cure for education where will the money come from to start schools like this?
Capt, so you are only looking for a way for parents to pick their children's school? Did you look at "No Child Left Behind?" It lets parents "School Choice" their child into a so called higher performing school.
I think you and I are the same page Mr.Boday instead of focusing all this time and effort into making it easier for parents to choose which "higher performing schools" they want their kid to go to why don't we take that energy and put it towards making all public schools good.......something which really wouldn't be that hard considering just about every other nation in the industrialized world has managed to do this...oh except us
Unfortunately what standing in the way of that is a lot of foolish Republican ideology that "we're America we can't be like Europe in any way, Europe bad....no like Europe and China" this idea that we take in any take ideas from other nations because Jesus and fairy dust will see us through so we can let ourselves keep falling behind. Then there's the Democratic politicians who will agree with everything I've just said but will put zero effort into really making it happen. Obama is one such president, he should have been working on education not health care, reform..........
But all in all it's about the reality that we must improve our public education system we don't have the time to wait for "the market to sort itself out" or any of these other foolish "free market solutions"......education, public education is not in the free market and thus free market solutions will not work at least soon enough. We need a federal curriculum which puts 100% schools competitve with those in Europe and China no exceptions or underperformance tolerated
In reading this story I give a lot of credit to the teachers and I thank GOD they stayed committed to teaching their children in the classroom. But I'm disgusted at the fact that Gov. Corbett cut education so much that these teachers will have to file a law suit just to get paid and the district will need the additional funds to stay open till the end of the school year. To add insult to injury one school district is using sheep to cut their lawn in the name of budget cut. You can google the story if you like. So that means to me that Gov. Corbett simply want these people to simply go away and make it the best way they can. This is what the GOP is about. If you serve your country in the public sector you are seen as a problem. This is why they are so quick to cut public sector jobs in the name of balancing a budget and yet do nothing to the wealthy. And at the same time I'm hearing GOP candidates talking about cutting unemployment benefits if they get into office scare me. It is time for us as people to say enough is enough when we see a pattern of this and stand up for the innocent lives that are being destroyed by silliness.
this is from Think Progress might be wort looking at. if you are in Michigan
EDUCATION
Michigan Democrats Unveil Plan To Finance Free College Tuition By Eliminating Corporate Tax Credits
Capt. America-I understand Bill O'Reilly comes on at the same time as The Ed Show and is beating The Ed Show in ratings. I believe you are in the the wrong blog. Try your blog on the O'Reilly site. They will appreciate your remarks better. It is obvious you do not like anything Ed Schultz says so why are you blogging on this site? JUST TO HAVE FUN?????
Nope he is here to show us liberals the truth even if he has to make up the truth to fit his bigotry. capt uses words like reverse racism to make the claim that the black man is oppressing the good old boys. In capt land reservations and welfare are what keeps minorities down, funny thing about capt and his cronies, they whine about high unemployment in one breath and in the next breath they blame welfare for making people lazy. See in capt land people should get off welfare and take jobs with wages that provide less then welfare because its good for them, why while the poor slowly starve to death they can be proud they choose to starve to death by working making someone else wealthy. The realities of life doesn't enter into capts or the tea bagged nations mind, even though they spent their lives milking the government it is up to them to tell others that it isn't fair for them to do what they did and are still doing. See in capt world it isn't about not taking handouts it is about making sure there is a limited number of people doing the same to ensure that capt gets all he can before the handouts dry up.
EDUCATION COMPROMISED. I could not help but think why when there is a budget cuts, the first to go is EDUCATION. WHILE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD when Budget is drqwn, the first to get Chunks of the Budget is EDUCATION?
Is America not aware that for a Country to be strong and formidable it is the manpower of educated people who will set the foundation without which, America will be food for the dogs. America for it to stay afloat or on top of the world we need education to make it so. For America to exist it is the Intellectual Deposit of this nation that will make that possible. BUT WHY IS IT THAT EDUCATION IS ALWAYS PLACED IN THE BACK BURNER OF OUR NATION'S AFFAIR?
The $3.2M for the Pennsylvania School System is nothing but a superficial fix for the State's crumbling School System.
Pennsylvania need to take the courageous stand of the citizens of Wisconsin - RECALL THEIR GOVERNOR. If Wisconsin can do it...so can the Pnnsylvanians. How about it Pennsylvania.....can you follow the example of the WISCONSINIANS?
I have to agree many governors and politicians banging the debt and deficit drum have talked about all the cuts they'll make and so on....but most of them won't mention these plans generally involve massive slashes to "non defense domestic spending" ie education, public services that in the short term we can slash and make the budget numbers look good but in the long term will cripple this nation
Education is as vital a service as police, fire, military and any other spending and what so many of these GOP folks are doing is so damn dangerous for this nation......it may look good in the short term but we WILL pay for it years from now. You play a sport it's easy to not practice, it feels good to relax, but when you don't practice when the game comes, and game will come, you will regret it.
Either we make it a priority and give it the funds it needs today, we can pay for it today, or can put it off and PAY for it tommorrow. So any governor, any politician who tries to cut money from education should be legally mandated to cut their own salary and that of their aides, staffers, and so on FIRST