Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA)
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission blindsided the city's teachers Monday morning by effectively revoking their contract at a meeting called with just about zero notice. The major changes made—for now—are to
teachers' health coverage:
The District will require teachers and other PFT members to pay up to 13 percent of the cost of their medical premiums and reduce their choice of plans, starting Dec. 15. Now, most PFT members pay nothing toward health premiums. The payments will amount to $27 to $71 per month for single coverage biweekly paycheck, according to the District. For family coverage, the cost is $77 to $200 per month.
The SRC will also stop underwriting the union’s Health and Welfare Fund, which provides prescription, dental, vision and other benefits to active members and retirees. The District, which now pays $4,352 per member per year to the fund as required by the PFT contract, plans to provide the coverage directly to current employees but end benefits for retirees.
Philadelphia teachers are already
paid 19 percent less than teachers in neighboring suburbs. The School Reform Commission didn't bother to pretend that its action was anything but a steamrolling. Writing Monday evening, Will Bunch laid out
the secrecy and cowardice of the meeting's planning:
This morning's meeting was not listed yesterday on the SRC website, and no notice was sent out to the media until early this morning, about two hours before the vote was actually held. So how was it even legal? The SRC quietly bought and buried this legal notice in the Classifieds section of Sunday's Inquirer[.]
The notice -- which, in an understatement, was barely seen by anyone -- doesn't state the reason for the meeting beyond "general purposes." What's more, it says that, sure, members of the public absolutely have a right to speak -- as long as they call the SRC and register by 4:30 that afternoon. Was anyone even there to answer the phone on a Sunday? We'll probably never know.
Philadelphia's schools have been battered by Gov. Tom Corbett's education cuts and by inequitable funding, with Corbett and his appointees on the School Reform Commission consistently trying to blame the teachers for Corbett's funding shortages. Now, with less than a month to go before the election, they've launched a major attack on the embattled teachers, yet another effort to shift the blame for Philadelphia's education disaster away from Corbett.
Tom Corbett has to go. Please chip in $3 to help Tom Wolf send Corbett packing.
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