Nutter on SRC: 'Time to go'

MAYOR NUTTER yesterday called for an end to the School Reform Commission, the state-mandated board created in 2001 to oversee the Philly school district.

"It is now time to end the School Reform Commission in the city of Philadelphia. It's time for it to go," Nutter told an audience of education leaders during an education-policy speech at WHYY studios.

The SRC was established when the state took over management of the district under a state law known as Act 46. Nutter has proposed that the process of returning control to the city begin in 2017 and that by September 2018 the locally controlled school board should be in place.

"While I believe that the SRC and its many members have functioned to the best of their personal and professional abilities, there's no question about that, and with the best of intentions, we Philadelphians deserve to govern, oversee and manage our own schools," the mayor said.

The audience included three SRC members - Sylvia Simms, Farah Jimenez and Chairwoman Marjorie Neff - along with Superintendent William Hite and other high-ranking district officials.

Nutter said studies show that when people feel connected and accountable for schools in their neighborhood, they become more engaged with the schools. "More-involved families mean better student performance," he said.

He said local control would eliminate confusion over where the buck stops. He listed a revolving door of leadership during his eight-year tenure as mayor to illustrate his point: 17 SRC members, six SRC chairs, five superintendents, five secretaries of education and three governors.

"Returning to local control means the voters of this city know who to hold accountable for educational outcomes - the mayor," Nutter said.

But before the city can begin the process of returning the schools to local control, Nutter said, the state needs to fully fund public education, including resuming charter-school reimbursements. It should also come up with a student-weighted funding formula, he said.

Once these two things are in place and the district knows how much funding it will receive each year from the state and city, it must stick to a five-year financial-stability planning process, he said.

Finally, the mayor added, "We need full public engagement." He proposed a year of public hearings on governance, debates and forums on how to improve education.

Neff agreed with Nutter's call to restore local control.

"I think that if you ask any of the commissioners, they will tell you the SRC was created to address the state's need to have school oversight in exchange for additional funding," she said.

If the district could secure "stable funding" in schools, "we as SRC members would happily vote ourselves out of existence."

On Twitter: @ReginaMedina

Online: ph.ly/DNEducation