Much has been written on Philadelphia’s financial problems. However, the reportage has not been entirely honest. Absent from the discussion is how Philadelphia got here and why the money problems were permitted to become so protracted all with the tacit approval of the mayor, the S.R.C. and especially the P.F.T. Recall that Paul Vallas terminated amidst a debt of of $75M +/- when he resigned in 2007. Arlene Ackerman, $650M +/- in '11. The figures have since been revised upward many times by seemingly many people without clear any explanation.
Rather than using honest, hard-working and productive people (including and ESPECIALLY teachers) as politically attractive targets, the people would do better to insist upon a 5-year forensic audit of district financials -- charters and all before another dollar is spent. Absent an audit, the P.F.T. will be relegated to the status of an ATM, forever locked in a quadrennial cycle of socialist give-backs during contract negotiations and the city to an interminable symphony of waste, fraud and abuse.
The mismanagement with impunity on the parts of Ackerman and the S.R.C. can be clearly discerned. While one can agree that Philly schools are underfunded, pouring good money after bad each year will not avail. Neither will the justification of one's own failings and shortcomings with those that can be found in others, namely Harrisburg. Only mature attacks, careful resource management and planning will do so. People on both sides need to wise up.