Sure. On -17 of the budget, there is a seven-year breakdown of your Capital Projects Fund. Can you explain what the Administration Support Services category is and why are you projecting to spend $126.1 million in this category over the seven-year period?
Madam Chair, it's broken down in this way: Alterations and improvements, and it has a figure, if you'd like me to provide that for you, or I can provide you this.
Very briefly, it's facilities planning and space 160 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. management; M and WBE compliance monitoring; the OCIP program, safety program; the School District of Philadelphia's just general management of the program; and self-insurance, which is workers' comp.
Thank you. If additional revenues and/or savings are not identified, how will the SRC close the projected gap of $38.9 million?
Madam President, as much as we've taken the example from the last year where we went from 181 million to million, it's a combination of 18 those three elements you just talked 19 about: revenue, reductions and 20 efficiencies. Of course, we'd love to 21 rely on the revenue to take care of the 38.9, but the requirement of a balanced budget remains and so, therefore, we would recommend to the SRC a reduction plan that will get us to a balanced 161 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. budget. We would work very carefully with the City and the State to maximize the revenue portion, but if what I heard you just ask saying there was no 7 additional revenue, then we would be forced to recommend to the SRC a reduction in $39.9 million. Having lived through this this year and knowing the amount of reductions and staff efficiencies and cuts that we've made, it would be very, very difficult choices that the SRC will have to make. So we are very encouraged by the partnership with the City and the Commonwealth to look for additional revenue, but to answer your question with full disclosure, we would have to recommend severe and I think very dramatic cuts to -- as much as we tried to stay away from classroom and schools, that would be a very, very difficult $39 million to get to. I am optimistic that working 162 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. together with the team, that we can find revenue sources and look for other ways to get to where we need to be in keeping with the SRC priority of not hitting the schools.
Thank you. I know a couple months ago I was bombarded with calls from irate parents who apparently were told the child's school would be closed. Are there any plans whatsoever to close any of the schools?
Part of this facility -- I agree, that that's probably the worst thing that could happen, is to have a school closed without proper community engagement, and we will not do that. What we intend to do is incorporate the soon-to-be-released capital facilities plan, which will include, I would think, some recommendations for school closures. Not necessarily by name, but perhaps by the 163 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. geographical area, which allows the school system to then work with the community based on what's the best educational environment for the child in that neighborhood. It should come as no 7 surprise and, in fact, it should be an active engagement and it should be based on what the community says. And so we've had this model successfully used in other cities. I know Philadelphia has the model, and we're going to use it here. When there is a school closing, it has to be with, I think, a very involved community and it has to be predicated on what's going to be academically better for the child and it's not just a case of closing a school to save money. So all of that is factored in. I think you'll see -- every year I think by City Code we're -- I mean, City ordinance we're required to provide a listing of potential school closings, but I think this list or the 164 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. coming -- the next few years will be much better informed by having a capital master facility plan that identifies by region potential school closures, and then we'll go from there. So I don't think you should anticipate any short-term school closings other than the ones that have already been announced and already have been worked and now the SRC has that decision in June. I think there will be a whole new process after that.
Thank you so much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I spent the weekend at a conference, and part of what we discussed during the conference was schools generally across the country and in Pennsylvania specifically, and one of the participant's father was a doctor and he 165 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. described sort of going into a -- when people come into an emergency room, the first thing they teach doctors is to check for breathing, not pulse, not anything else, but breathing. And at first, doctors don't necessarily believe that. So in your view, I guess I'd say, what is -- he was using this to an analogy for schools and he was saying, I'm not sure we know what the breathing is. In other words, what's the first thing you check for to see whether or not the patient is alive, the School District is working, et cetera. Do you have a thought about that or an answer to that question?
Sure. Many thoughts, and here's an answer: I think in a triage of a school system, the first thing you look for is the standardized achievement models and see what results are. And so if you're trying, again, in a triage example that you used who is 166 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. breathing, who is not, well, you have data. And we'll use Philadelphia for example. The standardized score was the PSSA. Well, you can see that the School District in the last five years has made tremendous progress in that. That's a very good indicator if the patient is breathing. Then you can get into all the other revenue sources, et cetera, et cetera, what's the core curriculum, what are the teachers' professional development, et cetera, et cetera. But the first blush is where are we at on scores. That would be my reaction.
Well, there was a lot of criticism of the School District, and they pointed to Chicago where Paul Vallas came from as an example, that you can only teach to the test to raise scores for so long and then it plateaus and you stop seeing the progress. And I guess there is quite, among the crowd I was with over the weekend, quite a degree of skepticism 167 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. that we're going to be increasing test scores, that we're going to hit a plateau. Do you have a thought or comment about that? There are many school districts that people gave examples of -- Chicago is the only one I remember -- where it worked for so long and then it plateaus. That's the end of it. It's not really changing anything fundamental. It's just teaching to achieve higher test scores to show progress, to get increased funding, but ultimately it doesn't serve the children, because it doesn't teach them life skills, it doesn't teach them how to survive in the world. Thoughts about that?
I don't think you could look for teaching the test and plateauing for test results as the ultimate future for the Philadelphia School District. I think to incrementally -- 168 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
No. To incrementally raise scores, you have to do fundamentally different things, and Philadelphia has been doing that in the last five years. You have a core curriculum. You have professional development so teachers can make that work in a classroom. You have to have principals who understand data and teachers who can understand data on individual students. That's all part of -- it's not just teaching to a test. It's a disciplined way a system approaches it. Will it be a plateau? Well, according to No Child Left Behind, absolutely not, because in 2014 and according to the State as well, all children will be proficient. Will it be a challenge? Yes, absolutely, but the building blocks are already here and I don't think -- and, Councilman, I 169 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. respectfully just take issue with whoever said that, which is you can only get to a certain point and then it's just a case of trying to get resources. It really is a fundamental way that the school system approaches academics. And, of course, I have the Chief Academic Officer here, who I'm sure would like to opine.
I would like to respond to that. That is not what we do now. One of the things that Philadelphia did very well -- and I can actually applaud it, because I was not here when they introduced the core curriculum, so I can really talk about that. It's not about me -- they were able to phase in over the last five years this core curriculum that really talks about the eligible content, what students really need to know and be able to do and to demonstrate it. Yes. Will the test scores go up? Yes, if you're doing this larger piece. But as Mr. Brady has also said, 170 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. it goes to then what are we doing with our diverse learners. So you heard him, we start to break this out, looking at our ELL students, our special education students, how are we accommodating and changing this curriculum and the experiences that our children are getting so that they perform better, but then how are you doing these experiences with our curriculum that go beyond the schoolhouse. So we're talking about field-based experiences, community service learning, as well as internships. When you hear about the apprenticeships that we're talking about, this is giving real-life experiences for our children. That goes way beyond a test. It's the life experiences. It's how you're going to engage them. That being said, we still know that we have to continue to reach all of our students. We know that as we are looking at dual enrollment, how do we partner with our universities. We have a 171 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. rich community with university partners that can help us deliver this curriculum in a different way. That's not teaching to a test. It is teaching to excellence.
I understand. That's a different thing. I'm talking about -- I mean, by sixth grade, we know whether or not basically if we look at a person's file whether or not they're going to graduate from high school, what their path is, and we're really doing nothing to -- I mean, let me put the question a different way. Forget the Philadelphia school system.
You're dropped into Philadelphia. How would you educate our children? Start from scratch. Just ignore everything we know.
I'm going to 172 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. respond. But one of the things that the first thing you have to say is, don't ignore everything you know, because if you're not going to go to best practices and if you're not going to look at some data, then we're just going to keep making the past mistakes. So now I'm not talking about Philadelphia. I'm just talking about in general. So the first thing --
We don't do anything in Philadelphia that's a best practice looked at in other cities in the country, do we?
We absolutely do, and we search best practices all across this country and what we do in Philadelphia. And let me just say, it's actually not even sixth grade. We can look at third grade performance and start 173 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. to project what a child is going to do. And so that's part of what we're doing in terms of making sure that what we teach and what we have written is actually being taught. So the first thing we have to do is make sure that we have the capacity, our human capacity, to deliver the instruction that we're talking about for our children. So that means that's one-on-one instruction, that's small group instruction, that's looking at what teachers are doing in a classroom, that's looking at different ways of assessing what the children are learning and then working not only with the home and the school and their teacher together to change the practice of what happens every day. That's -- if we're looking at now, say forget Philadelphia, just globally, that's what you have to do. And it is looking at our early childhood preparation and it is looking at making 174 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. more access for education that's structured for our young people, so that when they come into kindergarten or they come into first grade, not only are we working with the children, but we're working with their caregivers, because part -- we can't do this in isolation. So how are we equipping our parents so that they can help with our children when they're in extended school time.
So the question -- so I think that was an answer to the question what you do if you forget what the Philadelphia school system has, look at best practices around the country. What would you do to change the outcomes so we don't have 45 percent dropout rates, we can graduate people, get them qualified for a good-paying job or send them to college? And what I have here is, based on what you said, early childhood education. 175 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
Small class sizes, one-on-one instruction. I don't know what you meant by "access."
Making sure that all of our students are able to have the resources that they need and the education. So, for instance, if I have a student that's an English language learner, I shouldn't put them in a classroom without the proper supports that they would need. So I'm trying to be very specific.
Okay. And then you said change practice of what happens every day. What did that mean? Because obviously that means -- it implies what we're doing every day doesn't work.
Well, what it implies is that one size does not fit all. And so in the past, we may have had a broad paintbrush and if we're looking out every day, we want to see what's 176 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. going on in our schools in our particular classrooms for our students and making sure that you're taking a look at the data, looking at best practices and seeing what the professional development and what is the actual direct service to children that needs to happen.
Okay. Can we do that in a big centralized system versus de-centralizing, giving authority to principals and essentially eliminating much of the administration between the SRC and principals?
There's a tendency in any large organization to say you don't need the top level and we can empower those subordinates, and I think there is a combination. I think a very successful school system has both a small central office to drive key curriculum, professional development systems, but there has to be a capacity at the principal and school level to be able to work the products that are being at a 177 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. smaller central office. (Bell rung.)
And so I understand your model, but that infers that every principal can be an educational leader and --
Are you saying -- how many of our 291 principals are not educational leaders?
Well, they're all educational leaders. Some are better trained and have more professional development than others.
Thank you, Madam President. If we can move now to Operation Safe Schools, where that is, what are you doing differently this year versus last year in terms of police presence. I 178 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. believe previous testimony said that an average of 40 officers are on call to respond to any flare-ups at various schools. And, lastly, what new strategies have you adopted, if any, as you look to continue to deal with the issue of safety?
Yes, ma'am. Actually, I covered in the testimony one of the key differences this year is the implementation of what we call the "Single School Culture," which is a combination of all the resources within the school to change expected norms. And it's not just police. It's not just about police. It's about all the Central Office and all the principal -- all the staff within the school to center on what behaviors need to change and what resources need to assist. And it was really driven by -- I mean, I remember distinctly a West Philadelphia High School student said to me, When we get in trouble, you send cops, but if I'm in the 179 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. Northeast, you send counselors, and you're not stuck with me. And I think that there's -- to get to that "Single School Culture," which actually is a different way to approach the behavior side and incorporates all the resources. But Mr. Golden is in charge of the school safety and security, and I'm sure he'd have a much more elaborate answer than that. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. James Golden, Chief Safety Executive for the School District. I believe the question, Councilwoman, was, first of all, about the 40 additional officers?
I'll just speak to that first and then, of course, respond to your questions. We have, as part of our cadre 180 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. of safety and security, a group of mobile school police officers who actually work on patrol in marked cars and uniforms and who are deployed day to day on pretty much an as-needed basis in terms of any kinds of extraordinary events or circumstances that would require additional support.
Okay. Thank you for that explanation. Mr. Brady has spoken to the new strategy, if you will, and so it's too early to say if that new approach is effective, working, simply because it's new?
Well, it's dangerous to say after less than a year any strategy is working, but it appears to be, on a couple of different levels. Number one is that at the school level, principals and staff understand that there is more to the safety and security beast and getting resource help than just police officers. 181 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. The second piece is that it was centered on the 40 most persistently dangerous schools, and data indicates to date that it's about an 8.8 percent reduction in serious incidents. But, again, it's very dangerous and early to link those two things together, but it appears to be more on the promising right track.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Reduced class size. If you could please give us an update on where that is, because, again, we know we're not able to take that citywide, but every year that I've been here, there's been a discussion of reduced class size. So 182 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. where are we? Are we continuing to move the needle?
Actually, last year it was more than a discussion. It was an additional $5.4 million that the SRC authorized at the beginning of August where it was driven down to K-3 in our kindergarten through three and our underperforming schools, and the actual class size was -- we had done a historical data based on the previous five years, and it indicated that against -- even though it appeared that resources were going to reduce class size, that the data indicated it didn't. It was at 28 and 29 and even 30 in some of our underperforming schools. So thanks to the SRC's directive, we actually did reduce class size down to 24, and this year in this budget we're going to continue that, and the ultimate target would be 22. Dr. Jones.
And that's 183 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. systemwide K through?
No. Right now we are only centering on those in Corrective Action II. We would need a great -- and I don't have the figure in front of me, but millions and millions of dollars to do lower class size than that. And these are the worst -- the schools most in need of help. That's the priority.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I missed -- I'm sorry. I was talking to Sophie. I missed the end of what you said about class size. Did you give a number for what class size is?
It was -- overall, there's different class sizes in high school. By state law and collective bargaining agreements, they are different at high school, middle school and 184 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. kindergarten through eight. We are targeting this year on the kindergarten through three and those schools that are the most in need, in Corrective Action II. And so we will have $11.6 million dedicated to that effort. We're looking for a target of 24. Many of them are in the 28 and 29 range. So it would be good news -- parents will see less students in the classroom and more teachers.
When you say a "target," I don't know what that means. Does that mean there will be in a 15 class or is that a goal? 16
That means we're 17 going to do it. Targeted means what 18 schools that we're sending those 19 resources to. 20
So there are 21 schools where there are still 28 and 29 22 in a class? 23
So the analogy I gave earlier about the 185 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. breathing, what people were concluding actually is, you can look at a patient and tell whether or not it's dead or alive -- in this case the patient is the School District -- by looking at several factors. One is class size. Eighteen or less is what's needed. One is engaged principals who have authority with respect to teachers and authority to make decisions about curriculum and students in their charge and that are leaders. Those two factors are significant determinants of whether or not schools are successful. And if you are using that to determine whether or not the Philadelphia School District is breathing, I would suggest that it would be very shallow breaths.
Here's two reactions to what you just said: The principals -- I agree with two of the three categorizations you used. I wouldn't say the ability to make decisions on curriculum. The other issue 186 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. about class size, if is the standard, then most of the school districts in the United States are on respirators, because there's only very few and they are very limited to usually wealthy suburbs to where they're or below. 8
Right. 9 Yeah. And they do very well and create a 10 workforce where employers want to go, 11 that create jobs for their graduates, 12 that -- 13
Right, Councilman. 14 And I had five years in a place called 15 Fairfax County, Virginia, which is one of 16 those -- I think it's one of the most 17 wealthiest counties in the United States. 18 And if you look at median income, the parents and the numbers of revenue that that county was willing to put into the school system, it allows you to have 18 in a class. So, yeah.
I understand. Let's look at the other metrics that people mentioned. Early 187 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. childhood. Where are we now compared to where we should be?
Where we were -- and you have to start at a point -- in the last two years, it's been a tremendous turnaround in pre-K, in -- kindergarten through -- pre-kindergarten programs. We went from serving 2,000 to now we serve almost 11,000, and it's increasing from there. These are the children that need to be prepared to go to kindergarten. So it's a fantastic investment. Much of it has come from the state in grants targeted towards pre-K, and it's a great investment from a number of ways, but if you look at -- if a child is prepared for kindergarten, then you're preventing that sixth grade decision in many cases that you were talking about before, where they can't read, bad attendance, so they're going to drop out. So it's an investment, and I know some people have done the -- if you invest a dollar in pre-K, you avoid 188 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. having to invest $40 in the dropout at the sixth, seventh and eighth grade. Actually, you said that Philadelphia didn't have many models, and I would counter that one of the benchmarks, one of the national programs is our pre-K program as we institute within the Philadelphia school system.
Right. But we took -- I mean, the studies, the academic research, everything was there before we implemented it. We weren't the maker of the model. We followed the model. I was talking --
Execution model is not too shabby either in some school systems.
Okay. So back to de-centralization. I mean, could you just talk about that a little bit just sort of in the abstract, why we need the size of the administration we need above the principal level. And before you answer that question, give me the 189 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. breakdown of employees not in schools versus employees in schools, and you can include everybody from the cleaner to the teacher to the principal in and outside schools. Does anybody know that number of people?
We'll get you that number, Councilman, but I did just want to -- Sandra Dungee Glenn, Chair of the School Reform Commission.
Good afternoon. I did just want to respond to something else you had said earlier while we get your specific information. You had asked a question about if the School District was a body, a human body, and our breathing was shallow, are we still breathing, and I would just like to tell you that, yes, and I think the breaths are deepening, and I say that for a number of reasons. I do think -- you hit on this 190 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. issue about best practices. This is a school district that I think has continued to hone in on what best practices look like, everything from early childhood education to implementing reduced class sizes, to standardizing a curriculum, to focusing and reforming, to high schools and the career pathways in dual enrollment programs. In each of those we can show where it is gaining traction and the number of students who are now improving who weren't before. It doesn't mean that we have gotten to the end game where all of our children are where they need to be, but I think important indicators like attendance -- and our overall attendance is going up as opposed to down -- there are other things that are indications of a school district that is catching on. You talked about de-centralization, and I think in this District, if you would, from the Commission's perspective, we've looked at 191 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. de-centralization less as how you might set up the entire system versus the different models of school that are in this District; for example, the growth of charter schools. That's a different way to deliver instruction that for different types of children has been more effective. Sixty-one charter schools, they have different themes, they have different grade structures. That works with some number of our children. We have alternative education schools, where young people who are returning to school who are overage, they're in a different kind of setting. The disciplinary schools. So there are different approaches to reach different needs of different students. So in that way, I think de-centralization is helpful and important, but I think what the Commission has taken as being very important to centralize is what children are required to know, the standardized 192 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. curriculum, what the expected standards and outcomes are, that they are not -- if you would, they are the non-negotiables. There may be a number of different approaches to reaching them, but those are the non-negotiables.
The problem with those, though, are, they're a really base minimum level --
Well, no, they're not. Our standards are not base minimum level. In fact, Pennsylvania has some of the more rigorous academic standards. And now the percentage of our reaching young people, reaching them, again, we still have less than 50 percent of our children who are where they need to be, but that has doubled to where it was five years ago. So it is work in progress. There's no question that we have a long way to go. Significant progress has been made. I think what we are trying to do now is differentiate our implementation 193 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. strategies, so that we look at where charters are most effective and do more of them, where some of our restructured schools are most effective and do more of that. That is not a one-size-fits-all approach. I just wanted to share with you that that's kind of been the philosophy, if you would, that we are looking to apply using this diverse provider model as an implementation strategy, but trying to be very clear and being very consistent on the expected outcomes.
Councilmember, if I could answer your specific question, it depends on how you couch the answer. So I want to make sure that we're very clear on this, because when you ask somebody from the School District, Well, how many direct personnel, how many do you have teaching and learning, et cetera, let me give it to you the way we're divided. We have 1,332 central administrators, 1,332. We have 22,540 that are school-based 194 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. personnel. In other words, that's not all teachers, but it's teachers, principals, assistant principals, food service workers who work at the school and provide lunches, et cetera, et cetera. So somehow that's about 5.2 percent. And we actually reduced 240 last year in the budget. So we are not a bloated bureaucracy where all the resources are at a central office. In fact, six percent -- I'll round it to six -- is not bad for a central office sized operation.
I've looked at other cities and it could range from three to five, six percent. Would you agree that six is on the higher end?
Five to six percent. It depends. I would like to see what school district it is and the methodology they use to describe who their central office is and who isn't, because often times other school districts, not Philadelphia, would say if 195 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. you're a school psychologist and you worked on the central staff, then you're school based, and you haven't seen a school in your 20-year career. So, again, I think we're fairly -- we're within a pretty good parameter. (Bell rung.)
Let me just finish that one thought. So 1,332 people managing 291 principals. I guess --
Well, manage a $2.3 billion budget, manage all the services necessary to run a school system, yeah.
What is done at the central location by those 1,332 that can't be done by people in the schools?
Manage a capital -- just the business operations we'll save just for a second, but the curriculum instruction, the preparation and implementation of core curriculum, the signing of textbooks on how to execute 196 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. that, the oversight and accountability and the measurement of progress, the running of the student information systems that make all of that happen, the intense management required of special education and special education dollars and individual education plans, et cetera. Those are all by necessity important centrally managed functions. So, in other words, as much as we would like to drive it to our principals, between federal funding and the requirement to have that careful management to just the operations of a large organization, it just -- it makes it more efficient to have a selected number of people to do it at a central headquarters rather than redundantly doing it 285 different ways.
Well, I guess when you look at smaller school districts, I mean, if you just -- it seems to me that there are still a lot of savings at that level at six percent, 197 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. because you're not in the service delivery business, and the more dollars we can put down there, the better off our children are.
Actually, I agree completely, and that's one of the reasons why we're doing this shared services with the City, to see how many business operations can get to be more efficient by another way to drive those dollars down to schools. I think we agree completely on that.
Okay. I'll come back to my point. Thank you, Councilwoman.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Shared services was one of my questions. I clearly remember my first year here there was discussion about there being a task force to do just that, look at shared services, like the 198 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. carpool, like buying supplies, and here we are eight years later and again we hear the notion that there will be a shared services, I believe you call it, task force someplace in your testimony.
Only because we might look up four years from now and have a report or not, have these things in place or not. So where are we with that and what's the end picture, the end game in when we can expect to see some implementation and/or action?
We've had initial discussions. In May the task force will begin. We have a requirement within six months to provide a report to the SRC and the City and the Mayor, and from that, it should inform the preparation of next year's budget.
So who in 199 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. the Mayor's Office are you working with?
Dr. Shorr at this point. She's going to open it up to the other executives.
No. I'm saying within six months we'll have the final report -- no. I'm sorry. I'll rephrase that. Nothing is final. We will have a report on the services that make the most sense to share. That will be within six months. What I'm saying is that it will inform next year's budget. It won't be a quick fix to this year's budget, but I really think that the momentum is there and I think if we look at it as a five-year process, that -- we won't be sitting here four years from now saying, Well, we used to have one and nothing happen.
All right, then. Thank you. Let's move now to contracts. 200 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. Who is your largest contract? Who do you have your largest contract with, what entity? I'm just cross-referencing my notes here, because I could be wrong.
An initial reaction indicates it's one of our alternative education providers, which may be CEP, but I'd rather check that before I tell you.
That's what my notes tell me, but I don't like to put it out there, because it could be wrong. So their contract amount is?
And my homework tells me that the state cut the funding for this by $8 million last fall.
That's correct. They did, yes, ma'am. 201 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
I'm not sure that they were into the rationale and why the legislators chose not to put it in. It was normal -- I do not know the rationale for that.
So we don't know if it was due to performance or lack thereof or inadequate -- simply there not being enough dollars at the state level so they had to --
It was traditionally an add-on from portions of the Legislature. It was legislators. It was an add-on every year, and as I understand it, it was not added last year. But I don't think it was directly related to performance.
So I guess what I want to get to is, are they the only entity in the business of working with, dealing with alternative education, and why did they end up being the lucky organization, entity that ends up with this, some might say, 30, others might say $50 million contract?
No. We have five other alternative ed providers, and I don't think that that particular organization was the lucky one. I think that when the -- and, again, this is just -- I believe when they first -- when this was first proposed as a method for our students, that they were here very quickly with an organized program. They also made a significant investment in some of our facilities. In other words, once the need was determined, they were very quickly here to fill that need. So I'm not sure it was -- they were just --
Just to help Mr. Brady, this does precede his 203 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. administration. CEP had been identified, I believe now, it may have been six or seven years ago.
And the members of the School District leadership at that time, along with, I believe, the teachers' union, had visited their work in Texas.
I believe Houston, Texas. They were a model of providers in alternative ed. They were sort at the front end of this whole focus on alternative education as a specialty. And so they were asked to come in to Philadelphia. They were like the first ones to set up the beachhead here.
So I think they then became the largest of our providers. 204 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. There have now been subsequently other alternative education providers added on, and as Dr. Jones spoke to before and she can again, the District is now undergoing a whole review to make sure we have an understanding of what are the differences amongst these different providers, are there differences in terms of quality of services, in terms of outcomes and also in terms of their cost, and to better standardize what it is we are looking for from them and also the cost that they are receiving for their services. So now about five or six years into this process for the District, we are trying to now sort it out to have a better understanding and also, I think, more uniformity across the programs for alternative education.
Okay. All of those factors you mentioned were my next line of questioning, so I don't have to ask now. If you could just speak to that. 205 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
As the Chairwoman has said, we are now in the process of reviewing the actual performance based on the data of all of those providers, but we also know as a district what we are asking for for our services now. So, again, looking at some best practice model as well as outroom data to say what are the services that our students need and then how do we put out a request for proposal to really reform this. In the short term, we're actually -- all of the alternative ed contractors have actually been notified that their contracts are up on June 20th this year, and we are in the process now of looking at a one-year contract as we do a transition to totally reforming the alternative ed program, looking at, again, as the Chairwoman said, all of those indicators and starting with what do our students need now in this transition. The needs are different now five years later. 206 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
And what the performance has been or not for the dollars that the School District has expended.
Absolutely. And we looked at the contracts, and that was one thing that was very different. The contracts were actually different. I think that's one thing that everyone was not aware of. So everyone had different indicators in their contracts because they came in at different times and asked to do different things. What we've looked at now is standardizing it based on the needs of our students, looking at the resources and then best practices.
Okay. All right, then. Does that apply also to the EMOs or is that a separate set of criteria, accountability, assessment, expectation for the EMOs?
That's a separate process, but, again, the District very clearly said last year when they had a 207 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. one-year extension for the EMOs that they wanted to make sure that we had a rigorous review of their contracts. And so we're actually in the process of doing that now, looking at each contract, making sure that we do an assessment of it. That information will be presented to the SRC and, actually, there will be public sessions also so that people will be able to see the performance of the EMOs based on their contracts and the data.
All right. Now to the School Reform Commission. In looking at this document and listening to the line of questioning from Council colleagues, there's an enormous amount of responsibility at that School Reform Commission level, and I'm curious to know what staff support do School Reform Commission Commissioners have, because there is no way on a volunteer basis that someone can consume so much important, critical information, upon which you have 208 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. to make major decisions, alone. So I want to know two things. One, the role of your government relation officers, Mr. Brady, and, two, what is the picture of the staff support for School Reform Commission members.
Well, let me speak to the School Reform Commission staff, and going back to Councilman Green's questions about core and central administration, we really have tried to be lean and mean. We have two full-time professional staff on the School Reform Commission. Joe Ferguson is our Chief of Staff and Executive Director for the Commission and Amy Guerin, who has come on board recently, is the Policy Director. They're the two full-time professional staff to the Commission.
For five members. I do have to say that we do have a full complement and we rely heavily on our 209 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. District leadership and executive staff, Mr. Brady's office, our Chief Academic Office, our Chief Operating Officers, and requiring and requesting information and ask them to, of course, prepare and provide briefs to the Commission so that we don't have a duplication of staff. But as the Board, if you will, we do operate with two full-time staff and I believe a complement of five administrative staff support. There are other offices that come up under the Commission, like the Inspector General's Office operates from under the purview of the Commission. They aren't, let's say, Commission staff per se. Our general counsel's office is technically, I think, structured under the School Reform Commission, but, as you know, the general counsel and our legal staff really serve the function for primarily the District but, of course, provide overall legal counsel to the Commission. So they supplement Commission staff, but also 210 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. they kind of have dual responsibilities, if you would, to both the Commission and the District.
And that aids you in doing what the world expects of the School Reform Commission when it comes to reporting back to Councilmembers and reporting to parents and reporting to the School District staff themselves?
Well, hopefully you'll be the judge of whether we do it well, but we do -- yes, those are the supports. We do use -- and, again, sometimes people are critical of consultant support, but we do also supplement our staff with some consultancies. The Five-Year Plan, for example, was prepared by financial consultants, PFM. We have legal counsel support and also periodically public relations support as consultants to the Commission to help us carry out our work. (Bell rung.)
Sure. 211 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. Thank you very, very much for your testimony. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I didn't understand something that was just said, then I'll get back to my questions, or said three or four minutes ago, which was that we're looking at the diverse provider model and that we're looking to standardize it to create uniformity, and I thought the whole purpose of a diverse provider model was to allow people to do things in different ways so that we can use that knowledge to see what works. Why do we want to create uniformity in our diverse provider model?
Let me clarify. I 212 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. was speaking to standardizing the outcomes. For example, we are expecting to see student achievement improved for all of our children, all of our students. No matter what type of school they're going to, we want to see that trend line going up, more children moving on to grade level. So whether you're a charter or a contract school or a traditional school, we expect the number of your students that are approaching grade level to be improving every year, so that outcome is uniform. How you do it, how you approach it, how you structure your school day, that's where you can have your innovation and your differences.
Let me follow up on that. You say you expect performance to change every year. When we look at major changes, say, for a corporation or for a city government or for anybody sort of outside of what you're doing and we say, We need major change to really turn this ship around 213 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. and make it work for the benefit of whoever -- in this case the stakeholders are the children -- you don't do that through incremental change every year. In fact, often you're doing things that have really long-term impact. Whereas, in the short term, you may be working on things -- I want to suggest that maybe you should be working on things other than just test scores. Is that the determinant of what's going to be a great school system 10 or years from now, yearly increases 15 in test scores, or are there things that we should be looking at in a much longer time horizon than every year this is our goal to say if we make an investment in this child in second, third, fourth grade that's different than we're making, that spends a lot of time with them on things that don't necessarily improve test scores every year, but get them feeling like they can be successful, and then we start to see the benefits of that 214 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. investment, whether it's one-on-one teaching that was mentioned before or smaller class size or things, we start to see the benefits of that two, three, four, five years down the road when we're keeping that child in high school. So I'm not -- I guess I'm asking a question. We keep talking about test scores as if that's the goal, and to me, the goal is to educate children and put them out in the world in a way where they can go get a college degree or have the skills they need to get a good-paying job, which may or may not relate to a standardized test score. So can we talk about what the long-term plan is for that? Is there a business plan that's other than yearly test score increases?
We have what we call our Declaration of Education, and we've defined certain goals attached to that and benchmarks. Academic outcomes, though, is at the core of it, because 215 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. ultimately our, as I interpret, our core mission is making sure that we provide children with the level of information and their ability to apply that information in a way that enables them to be successful in the world and beyond. That is a function of what they know and how they use what they know. So I do -- it's difficult -- without getting into whether the PSSA is the right test score to use, I do think you have to have and we should have regular and routine benchmarks that help us understand and help to indicate what our children know. So we have in maybe some ways a flawed system, but we do have our test scores as a benchmark, one benchmark. I don't think it necessarily is the only thing, but I do think at the base of what we do, we have to be able to look at the academic performance of our children. And I don't think it's wrong to do that annually and to look at that across our schools. I do think we should 216 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. be able to see trend lines, not necessarily for every child in every grade in every year, but I do think we should be able to see trend lines with our schools and across this District where you see more children who are reaching those benchmarks than you did in previous years. I do think that's a fair assessment. I don't think it should be the only one, but I do think that's a fair assessment to use.
It's a metric, and I would suggest it's not the metric, because whether or not you meet the minimum skill levels doesn't necessarily have any relationship to whether or not you're prepared to go into the workforce and show up on time and do your job well and learn your job and get promoted or go out and become some kind of apprentice and become a plumber and go out and start your own business. The old adage in college was that the A students are going to work for 217 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. the C students.
And with all due respect, Councilman, I don't disagree with you philosophically, but I do have to say that whether a child can read and interpret and comprehend is a fundamental, I believe, component of their ability to navigate in this world, and as information becomes more complex and the ability to apply technology becomes more imperative, I do think that there are certain skill-sets that, yes, our children have to have to be giving them a chance at success. So I hear you, but I do think there are some things we really can measure that will give us an indication of children's likelihood of being successful, and literacy is one of those fundamental skill-sets that I don't think we can or should try to get around.
And I guess what I was suggesting earlier is, if we measure class size, effectiveness of 218 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. principal, leadership qualities in a principal and a bunch of other criteria you guys are familiar with, if we measure that, we know whether or not the children are going to be successful. So we have -- because everywhere that those things exist, children are successful.
So my focus is on changing the school system to match models that we know are effective rather than focusing on children's test scores.
Okay. So -- all right. Well, then I'll ask a couple of other questions. I mean, what is our plan to get there? It doesn't sound like we have a plan other than looking at 219 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. different models. Oh, I have one more point on the sort of de-centralization/diverse provider model question, and, that is, I'm sure you're all familiar with public school choice, which is essentially a market-driven model that allows parents to decide where kids go to school, which tell you where the effective principals are, what schools are working and what schools don't in a way that may not necessarily be reflected in test scores. Has there ever been any thought to trying public school choice either in a region or in some kind of study to see whether or not that's part of the model we ought to be looking at when we look at getting different outcomes for children?
Yes, and I think probably for us where we have moved to it, I think, most -- in the broadest form is probably around our high schools. The thinking behind the expansion of high schools, the number of high schools, the 220 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. type of high schools, regionalizing certain programs like the CAPA, so you not only have a CAPA in South Philadelphia, but I believe -- in Kensington, but also the Northeast are opening a CAPA, regional performing art schools, where we are looking particularly at the high school level trying to provide that kind of choice so that young people can look around the City and determine what the best fit, they and their parents, what the best fit of school is for them and they're not assigned per se to their neighborhood school. They have many other options. So that's probably where it's most developed in our School District. Probably the second area is the charter community, but we need to be more strategic than we have been, I would say, in that arena. (Bell rung.)
So I would think those are the two ways that we have been 221 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. exploring and implementing choice in this District.
But by the time people get to high school, I mean -- I guess what I'm saying is, don't we need to make the change at the much -- there was a focus earlier, a lot of focus, on early childhood, et cetera. Don't we need to move the diverse -- put it at the other end of the spectrum?
Allow parents to have public school choice when they're applying in kindergarten so that maybe they don't move to Bucks County, give them the option of charter schools and the public schools they want to go to and --
Well, again, I know our time is up. It's more difficult for us at the elementary school level because that involves so many more schools. So there is some issue of cost attached to that. And our other experience has been 222 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. that parents are also more concerned about, for elementary school and young children, schools being close at hand. So the ability to do that in so many more schools is a challenge both financially and I would say educationally, how to diversify at that level to that extent. So we have not drilled it down that far for those reasons. Those have really been the challenges for us. So we really have looked at it and been able to take it on more aggressively at the high school level for the reasons that I've just said.
Do you have a fundamental objection to that? Is there a reason we're not looking at it?
I think for the reasons I just outlined. Again, I'll speak as one Commissioner, and I'm not an educator, but also what I have seen is at that part of life when what a child needs to know seems to be, again, more 223 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. standardized, more uniform. And so it has not been as much of a pressure per se at the K-to-5 and K-to-8 level as at the high school level where young people are differentiating themselves much more. And what we need to do to motivate them and keep them engaged is also a broader range of interest to respond to. So it just made more sense for us to deal with it at that level first and then kind of work it backwards.
There's a lot of pressure for the City, though, because that's when young people sell their homes and move out to go to Bucks County or Montgomery County or other places to educate their children. I know many, many young couples that have done that.
And that's really -- and I live in a neighborhood where that has happened in a number -- I can name five families on my block. Really what families are looking for at 224 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. that point is school quality. They want to know when their young person enters kindergarten, that it is a high-quality program, in first grade at a high-quality program, and it's less about choice. And they want to know predictability of school quality, and I think we are spending a great deal of time K to 8 to improve and raise the standards of what the educational offerings at our K to 8 schools. Again, that's been my experience.
But it's also about they're making a choice, and quality is often affected by the ability of parents to make those choices. In other words, you have parents that are choosing where their kids go to school. Those parents are going to be active in that school. We know that is another one of the metrics that when you're checking the patient determines whether or not it's alive. So I would really like to have 225 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. a further conversation about why we don't think that that's a model that we can look to try in Philadelphia in addition to everything else that we're doing. And I do -- my questions, by no 7 means, didn't -- I acknowledge the progress you've made. I think it's terrific. I think this is the number one issue for the City of Philadelphia. If we don't turn our schools around, we won't have a quality workforce, we won't attract business and we'll continue on the cycle we're on.
Councilman, we'll be happy to talk with you about this in more detail.
Thank you, Madam President. MBE/WBE activity. Years ago, I guess before the launch of the $5 billion commitment for capital improvements, the 226 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. School District endured a lot of criticism around its inability to ensure that small business people of color and women were getting fair access to those opportunities there at the School District. Can someone give us an update on where you are and what the prognosis is going forward?
Yes, ma'am. I'd be glad to. Very good progress. We had -- the District achieved an overall M/WBE participation percentage of percent, 14 for a total of $136 million. 15
Yes, ma'am. Well 21 above our target, and I'll be glad to 22 provide you without eating your time up, 23 but we certainly have by category, by numbers, by firms, by dollars. But it's been a tremendous increase in the last 227 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. couple years.
Just tell me for my own understanding -- and, again, I have history as an experience here -- what is the role of the Government Relations Office in the School District?
I think it was three at one time, and you probably know more than I.
Lee Whitaker and Hugh Allen. So it's always been three you're telling me?
I was told it was three. We're two, and that office, one provides -- does a number of many important things. Provides a liaison to 228 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. Harrisburg and provides a liaison to City Hall. The two individuals who are assigned those functions answer, hopefully on a very responsive manner, the questions from the Council and the Mayor, keeps you informed of School District activities. More importantly, keeps us informed of your concerns. Head of the preparation of key issues for budgets, as well as individual constituencies, looking forward to community involvement. And on the state level, it's looking ahead at budget preparations, influencing key legislators and reacting to Governor -- to Commonwealth issues.
I will share for the record what the practice has been, and I've gotten a little spoiled, so I would like to see the practice continue, and, that is, always prior to budget hearings, in addition to a briefing with President Verna, Councilmembers had a briefing one on one 229 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. with the leadership, and the glue for that, the connector, was the Office of Government Relations. I could have missed it, but I don't remember that connect or that ask happening this time around, which is why I ask has there been any change possibly in pursuing that.
There hasn't been, and my apologies. I know we reached out to each one of the Councilmembers, and depending on the schedule, that the team, including me, visited as many as possible based on their scheduling. And so I'm chagrined and surprised that you weren't asked to participate, and I'll find out what happened, but it did in fact happen based on the availability of the calendar. So if in case you weren't asked, I apologize.
Let me say I could have been. I'm just -- my staff could have been. I'm just suggesting it's a practice that we --
-- look forward to, because it's extremely helpful. There's no way we can cover the gamut of issues during a hearing, and we want to keep that going.
All right. I got two more. Going green. In the testimony -- well, you should know, first of all, that a small group have convened to get a handle on the School District's status as relates to going green. What does that mean? With any new construction going forward, we're curious to know what is the School District's commitment, expectation, plan with regards to continuing to build buildings that are in some way like the School of the Future.
Right. And as you well know, the School of the Future was recently recognized --
-- certification, right. We're committed to that. And in the long term, you make a business case that if you make the environmental in terms of systems and in terms of raw materials at the beginning, that it will pay itself back over the long term. So we're committed to following standards. There's two different standards. As you know, there's LEED standards and there's also the California CHIPs, the California -- that are more applicable to schools. And so somehow between either one, we will incorporate those into school specs as we turn them over to design teams, because that's the right thing to do and it saves money in the long term.
Because I 232 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. was going to ask "commitment" means what. So you're saying it's now written into the specs that go --