State cuts precipitate school crisis

The crisis in education under capitalism is being felt across the U.S. as funding is cut, teachers and other staff are laid off, and schools are closed. In Delaware County, Pa., south of Philadelphia, this problem is nearing a catastrophe.

The entire Chester Upland School District is on the verge of collapse, with teachers and other unionized staff forced to work for free. Pennsylvania’s governor, Tom Corbett, is refusing to advance $18.7 million requested by the district to keep schools open through June. In a move education law experts describe as “unprecedented,” around 3,700 students in the district may find themselves without instruction in the middle of a school year.

Chester Upland has one high school, two middle schools and six elementary schools. One of the poorest districts in the state, 72 percent of its students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches — more than double the state average.

Once a vibrant industrial area, Chester has been unable to recover from economic recessions in 1975 and 1982. Unemployment is officially more than 20 percent. With 25 percent of residents living below the poverty level, the predominantly African-American district has limited local tax resources to fund schools. Chester Upland now relies on the state for nearly 70 percent of its annual funding.

December’s announcements that Sunoco and ConocoPhillips plan to close their Delaware County oil refineries in nearby Marcus Hook, laying off 1,000 workers, only add to the magnitude of this crisis.

Charter schools no solution

In 1994, the Chester Upland school district was faced with a multimillion-dollar deficit and named the worst performing school district in Pennsylvania. Control over the schools was taken over by the state. The for-profit Edison company was hired to run the schools. In 2001, then-Gov. Tom Ridge paid Edison $2.7 million for a study that also opened the way for Philadelphia schools to be privatized.

A combination of financial scandals and poor performance led the district to eventually break its contract with Edison, but state politicians did not abandon their push for private charter schools. Even though the local school board regained management in 2010, two selective-admission charter schools now enroll 45 percent of Chester Upland’s students and receive 45 percent of the district’s total operating budget.

One of these private schools, Chester Community, the largest charter in the state, is one of 89 under state investigation for irregularities in 2009 standardized test scores. The school was founded and operated by Vahan Gureghian, the largest single donor to Tom Corbett’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign with more than $300,000 in contributions.

Crisis of governor’s making

Corbett blames the Chester Upland school board for mismanaging their funds, and some politicians are suggesting that the state should once again assume control over the district, but this crisis is clearly of Corbett’s own making.

His 2011 budget, passed on July 15, included statewide cuts of $961 million for Pre-K-12 education. This budget also eliminated the requirement that the state reimburse school districts for students attending charter schools.

Chester Upland was the district hardest hit by these cuts. According to the Education Law Center’s analysis of the budget, total per student funding was cut by $2,542, eliminating $18.62 million, or 31.95 percent of state funding for this impoverished district. The district has 3,025 students enrolled in charter schools.

Having pushed for charter schools from day one of his administration, Corbett’s deliberate underfunding of Chester Upland schools opens the door for total privatization of a district victimized by a similar scheme with Edison 10 years earlier. This policy is also similar to one pushed in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

No lack of money

There is no lack of money to fund this school district. Corbett has set aside more than $500 million for a “rainy day” fund. Clearly this situation would qualify. On a national level, Delaware County taxpayers’ share of the 2012 Department of Defense budget is over $265 million. Costofwar.com estimates that these funds could pay salaries for 3,906 elementary school teachers.

Parents, students and staff have not been silent on this crisis. On Jan. 13, more than 120 high school students walked out of school in protest. The day before, an overflow crowd of several hundred packed a school district board meeting and later held a candlelight vigil when the meeting adjourned. Several people called for actions ranging from sit-ins at legislators’ offices to rallies in Harrisburg, the state capital.