Kristen Graham tweets council hearing on schools' budget
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
Kristen Graham tweets council hearing on schools' budget
Kristen Graham live tweets today's City Council hearing on the Philadelphia School District's proposed budget, which includes a $94 million funding increase request. It's likely to be a point of contention since it depends on council approving a controversial actual value initiative that would mean higher city property taxes. On a mobile device? Click here to follow the coverage. In a recent story, school officials said that without the extra money, schools may not open in the fall. Daily News Opinion writers are asking these questions.
Comment removed.
I like how Ramos thinks the Philly school tax is a pretty good deal for the tax payers ... NOT IF YOU DON'T USE THE SCHOOLS. Property tax + wage taxes + .08% sales tax = a LOUSY deal for the tax payers. & they want more money? For what exactly, so they can maintain their 35% drop put rate & fake test scores? NO THANKS!— Kennedy- i know a couple "certified" teachers who have no business in the classroom. cleanup is clearly advocating the certification system may not be all its cracked up to be, not doubting that it is currently required. there is simply no defense of the state of affairs in the PSD when it comes to financial management, or mismanagement rather.— raynesrock
- Does anybody know the yearly cost of cross city busing is? (SEPTA & yellow school busing) I have no idea of the #, but it’s GOTTA BE A TON. With the School district THIS broke why not look to eliminate some of those costs? Seems to me there are MORE than enough schools in this city (So MANY in fact they're looking to close 40 - 60) if every kid just went to his or her neighborhood school wouldn't the district’s budget be in a better place?— Kennedy
- It seems to me that the SRC should go to the State for funding NOT City Council.— BobSG
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Cleanup- not a teacher but as I see it all charters aren't awful. Hell I'd venture to say that most aren't awful, however you are trying to compare apples to oranges. When charters don't have to provide special ed services or ELL services and can expel students for something as inane as lack of parental involvement, you are not making a fair comparison. In a parent's eye, they provide a safer environment then some local public schools and with that, hopefully the same if not a better quality level of education. For a number of parents who can't afford to move or send their children to a private school, its an acceptable substitute. I cannot see how their decision reflects on the teachers who work in the school district. They cannot set policy or force admin to expel or punish student and parent conduct.— mike c
- Comment removed.
- There's good and bad when it comes to the unions and good and bad when it comes to charter schools. Teachers are not migrating back to Philly because there aren't many new jobs to be had for teachers in the SDP. Because of seniority rules, the newer teachers will often be laid off, then to be teachers, they teach in charter schools or suburban districts. However, a lot of suburban districts aren't hiring new teachers, although they're not laying off either. I had an adjunct professor who teaches in Lower Merion. She said that the LMSD doesn't replace retiring teachers. Instead, they raise class size. Also, special ed teachers have to teach more grades.
Teacher's unions would be wise to allow districts to have better evaluation systems which include in-class observations, value-added assessment, peer evaluations, parent evaluations, and student evaluations. After 3 to 5 years, the experience of a teacher doesn't matter that much for student achievement (See http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9526/index1.html, http://www.urban.org/publications/1001431.html, http://tntp.org/ideas-and-innovations/view/teacher-experience-what-does-the-research-say, http://jte.sagepub.com/content/62/4/339.abstract).
At the same time, charter schools overall have not shown to do any better than traditional public schools (See http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/PA%20State%20Report_20110404_FINAL.pdf). In fact, there are a number of low-performing charter schools in Philadelphia, according to the School Performance Index (See http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/a/accountability/school-performance-index-spi).— SeaMichelle
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
You can also follow Kristen on Twitter here.
