A promise of no layoffs at Promise Academies?

By now, surely you've heard about the $629 million gap that must be closed in the 2011-12 budget for the Philadelphia School District. The district won't pass a budget until May 31, and much can change by then, but the situation looks grim. Layoffs are a given.

District officials have publicly said they expect to have 1,261 fewer teachers next school year: 1,029 fewer regular-education teachers and 232 fewer special-education teachers. The total layoff number will not be that large, but we don't yet know what it will be.

But the district and the union are giving two answers about whether teachers at Promise Academies - district-run Renaissance schools with longer school days and years - will be exempt from layoffs.

The district says yes.

"Teachers at the Promise Academies are exempt from the layoffs because they are in a protected class," spokeswoman Shana Kemp said.

Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, says no.

"We won't stand for it," Jordan said. "The position was not advertised that way. It was not negotiated that way."

In its last contract, the PFT allowed for Promise Academies, which are meant to speed reform at the lowest-performing schools in the city. Extra pay for Promise Academy teachers was part of the deal.

But, Jordan said, protection from layoffs was not.

"Promise Academy teachers will be treated like every other teacher in the system," Jordan said.

The PFT will fight the district, Jordan promised - legally if necessary, he said.

There are six Promise Academies operating this year. Ten more will be added to the ranks.

Many of the teachers who staff the current Promise Academies would be vulnerable to layoffs.

Update. After The Inquirer reported that the Philadelphia School District had classified Promise Academy teachers as a "protected class" of employees exempt from layoff, spokeswoman Shana Kemp said she misspoke.

"No official decision has been made yet," Kemp said. "We are carefully weighing all decisions as we move forward with the budget-planning process."

On Thursday, Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman announced at a citywide principals' meeting that Promise Academy teachers could not be laid off.