Friday, October 20, 2017

End It

16 years ago the state took over the Philadelphia school district. Leaving aside why that happened or discussion of whether the state did good or bad things over that time, it's bad because it basically means there is no local accountability. You can't get mad at the mayor or the city council or even elected school board members. The city can't really do anything to help schools except throw money into a system they don't really control. One of biggest issues in local politics has largely been removed from local politics. I hope it ends.

The School Reform Commission could vote to disband itself by year’s end, the panel’s chairwoman said Thursday night.

After another SRC meeting where dozens of members of the public angrily called for an end to the body, Chairwoman Joyce Wilkerson said the five members were keenly aware of the timeline in front of them: To kill the SRC and shift to local control by the 2018-19 school year, they would need to vote themselves out of existence by the end of December.