Court to hear arguments Phila. district violated Pa. constitution

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a charter school case that has raised grave concerns among Philadelphia School District officials.

The dispute, which is being watched closely by the charter community and others, centers on the powers that the School Reform Commission has to manage charter school growth in the financially distressed district.

The West Philadelphia Achievement Charter Elementary School contends that the SRC illegally suspended parts of the state School Code to cap charter school enrollment and then threatened to close schools that did not sign agreements with enrollment maximums.

The school also is asking the state's top court to rule that the 1998 law that led to the state takeover of the district violates the state constitution because it allows the SRC to suspend "at will" parts of the code without providing any standards to guide the suspensions.

Robert W. O'Donnell, the lawyer who filed the suit, said Monday that the case had implications for all 86 charter schools in the city and their ability to operate independently. More than 67,000 city students attend charter schools.

District spokesman Fernando Gallard declined to comment on the case.

But in a court filing, the district said that the actions the SRC took in 2013 were constitutional and necessary to help the cash-strapped district right its finances.

"Each year, charter schools' unilateral increases in their enrollments result in new and unanticipated demands on district funds for which the district cannot accurately budget, even though managing district finances is one of the SRC's primary responsibilities," the district said in response to the suit.

The district said charter school costs are expected to total $767 million this academic year and account for about 31 percent of the district's operating budget.

West Philadelphia Achievement filed a petition in March asking the court to take the case. Challenges to the state-takeover law go directly to the high court. The state Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in May.

At that time, the court granted the school's request for a temporary restraining order that bars the SRC from moving to revoke West Philadelphia Achievement's charter because it has not signed an agreement that limited enrollment to 400.

Stacy Gill-Phillips, the school's chief executive, said her school has 690 students this fall.

The Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools and MAST Community Charter School in the Far Northeast have filed papers supporting West Philadelphia Achievement's position.

The coalition said the case could impact not only city's charter schools, but all 186 such schools across the commonwealth.

The state Education Department has sided with the district. It said in a court filing that the powers granted to the SRC under state law "are essential to the SRC's mission of stabilizing the district's finances so that the district will be able to provide for the education of Philadelphia's public school children in an efficient and fiscally responsible manner."

State law bars districts from capping enrollment - unless the school agrees to the limit in its charter. That is one of the provisions that SRC suspended.

West Philadelphia Achievement, at 6701 Callowhill St., has been operating without a signed charter since 2011, when the SRC voted to renew the school's operating charter but limited enrollment to 400 students.

The school, which opened in 2001, has had more than 600 students for several years and has been receiving money for the additional ones from the state.

The Education Department deducts the amount from the district's share of state aid and sends the money to the charter school.

The SRC also suspended parts of the law that had allowed West Philadelphia Achievement and other overenrolled charter schools to bill the state for the disputed students.