COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA JOINT COMMITTEES ON FINANCE AND EDUCATION - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, December 11, 2006 10:05 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL, CHAIR COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN DANIEL SAVAGE COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO RESOLUTIONS 060806, 060807 and 060908 - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good morning. Thank you all for being here this morning. This is a joint Education and Finance Committee hearing on education. Having said that, we're going to ask the Clerk to read the title of all three resolutions, as much testimony will be intertwined. We thank you all for being here, and the Clerk may now begin.
Resolution 060806, calling for City Council hearings before the Joint Committees on Finance and Education to explore the reasons and remedies for the School District of Philadelphia's FY07 budget deficit and to explore the impact the deficit could have on school students, teachers and programs; and Resolution 060807, resolution 22 authorizing the Committee on Education to investigate and conduct hearings related to the reported crisis faced by the City of Philadelphia regarding the high drop 3 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. out rate among public school students prior to high school graduation, for the purpose of examining the reported data and exploring corrective measures that can be taken to encourage high school graduation; and Finally, Resolution 060908, calling on the Joint Committees on Finance and Education to hold hearings on the high incidence of truancy among students in the School District of Philadelphia.
Thank you very much. So as all of you have heard, just for the sake to repeat what the Clerk has read, we will hold hearings this morning on the budget crisis, school budget crisis, as well as the dropout rate, as well as the truancy problem in our City. Having said that, let me note that a quorum is here. To my left is, of course, our President, President Ann Verna. To her left, Councilman Savage. 4 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. To his left, Councilman Rizzo. To my right, Councilman Goode. To his right, Councilman Greenlee, or as they said on the radio his first week, Greentree, Councilman Greenlee, and to his right, Councilman DiCicco. It now gives us great pleasure to present to you the Mayor of our City. We thank him for coming here to testify on these important issues, the Honorable John F. Street, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you. Which one of these am I supposed to use? I don't know. One is heavier than the other. Who thinks I should use this heavy one? I'll be brief, no matter how long it takes. I want to thank Council President Verna, Councilman Blackwell and the other distinguished members of the City Council of Philadelphia for having 5 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. this hearing, especially at this time given the fact that as we sort of roll into the holiday seasons, it would be real easy for this Council to decide that there are more other important things to do than to come here and talk about quality education. I also want to thank the members of the general public who are here, some of which your faces are remarkably familiar since most of us spent a fair amount of hours at the SRC hearings when the topic of the discussion was public education, as we are about to discuss here today. I want to thank Sandra Dungee Glenn, who is here, who is one of the Mayor's appointees on the SRC. I believe she's here representing the Chairman. I will tell you in the presence of these witnesses that she does a wonderful, wonderful job. She rarely ever misses a meeting, and she pays full attention to the activities of the SRC 6 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and the School District of Philadelphia. Quality education has been and continues to be a huge priority for me. Someone once said that the greatest form of economic development that we can do in this City is to develop good, quality education, not just in Central, Masterman or some of our academic or specialty schools, but in every school, every high school, every junior high school, every middle school and every elementary school in our system. All too often families have to make an awful choice when their children become school age. They have to decide whether or not they're going to continue to live in our City or whether or not to move to greener educational pastures where they can avoid the high costs of providing private education. The members of this Council, this Administration and many, many other people have spent an awful lot of time, effort and money making sure we improve 7 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the quality of life and opportunity in our neighborhoods. Literally thousands and thousands of affordable and market-rate housing is now available in our neighborhoods in places and in ways that were not available just a few years ago. As most of you know, thanks to the ten-year tax abatement, which was sponsored by Councilman DiCicco and supported by every member of this Council and this Mayor, there is a significant housing boom in this City, which has done very well for us. But having people move into our City and stay in our City doesn't always work when people have two and three and sometimes more children and face the prospects of a huge, huge bill 19 to send them to a private school. So most of us a few years ago were very, very pleased and we were optimistic with the emergence of the new form of government that we now have running our schools. My notes tell me that we didn't 8 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. have a -- and Debra Kahn, I think, did this. My notes say that we didn't have a takeover; we had a moveover. The City of Philadelphia decided to move over and invite the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to come in and be our partners in running these schools. Now, I know a lot about how that happened, because I was there for every step of the way, and I sometimes have to remind people that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's plan to fix funding and to fix the School District of Philadelphia didn't originally include a huge amount of additional funding. In fact, the plan was to take our system, the 220-some-odd thousand children, and pay Edison Schools about a quarter of a billion dollars a year to run the system. Some people still remember that.
And there were some of us who didn't believe that our school system should be run by a for-profit, a fictitious entity in the law, but should 9 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. be run and operated by somebody that we could feel and touch and understand, someone that will be responsible to the voters and taxpayers, citizens, parents and those who are invested in public education. And we had a pretty big fight about it. As you recall, we had a pretty big fight about it, because those of us who believed that we ought to have a CEO form of government were committed to that end, and those who believed that we should have some other form of government, privatize our system, agreed to disagree, and in the end, those of us who believed that we should have a CEO form of government prevailed. But at that time, we were facing a pretty significant budget deficit. I hasten to point out that while we had a budget deficit, our system was also making progress. Sometimes it's so easy to forget. Our test scores were up at that time, and there were other 10 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. good things that were happening in our system. The problem is, we had an approximately $200 million deficit. For those who are new to the public education issue in our City and in our Commonwealth, the situation then, although it was much more grave financially, occurred in a way that is very different from the way we recently learned of the School District's financial problem. And there are some people who might want to rewrite that history, but I have no interest in rewriting it. Because I was the President of City Council. Many of the members of City Council were here at the time. We complained bitterly that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was not adequately funding public education, and we made a conscious decision not to cut programs in the School District of Philadelphia. Ed Rendell was the Mayor, and we had a meeting and we decided that we weren't cutting vital educational 11 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. programs and that we were making some progress and that to reduce School District spending in an amount necessary to balance the budget would mean that nothing would be less, nothing would be less. So we didn't have a $200 million deficit by surprise. It wasn't like we woke up one day and we had a financial problem. It happened over a period of years and it happened because the Mayor, the Council President and Councilmembers decided we are not cutting this budget. And I still believe it was the right thing to do. And some people might remember there are those who accused Mayor Rendell and the rest of us as -- they said we're going to run the train right off of the cliff. Anybody remember that? We all talked about it. But we knew at some point in time if our system were going to thrive, we needed a huge amount of additional resources. I'll never forget -- and I do 12 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. promise to be brief, no matter how long it takes, but I'd like for this record to reflect some of this information, because I didn't actually realize at the time we were making this decision not to cut the budget, the School District's budget, that I would be the Mayor when it came time to fix the problem that was created, but I still believe it was the appropriate thing to do. And I remember going to Harrisburg and being in a meeting with Governor Ridge for probably three hours, and we talked about public education in Philadelphia and around the Commonwealth and we talked -- in fact, we were in a meeting for so long, that there were people who came and knocked on the door and wanted to know are you all right, is everything okay. Well, yes, everything was okay, but we had to come to grips with the issue. And I remember Governor Ridge said that we aren't going to just pour money into Philadelphia. We aren't 13 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. going to just give money.
If there is going to be more money from the Commonwealth, we should be talking about education reform and not just talking about additional revenues for the City of Philadelphia. And then tragedy struck our country. Governor Ridge was summoned to Washington to serve as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Lieutenant Governor Schweiker became the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and I had to have another long meeting. But we did have that meeting and we did talk to Governor Schweiker. And I'll never forget, Governor Schweiker at his inaugural swearing in as Governor said, The children of Philadelphia are children of the Commonwealth and deserve our support, and he made a commitment that he would help our children. But it didn't come until after we had a huge, huge amount of disagreement. But at the end of the day, 14 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. we decided -- and it was really interesting because when we first looked at all of this, there were people who were saying, Oh, if we just ran an efficient system, if we just got rid of all the fat, if we just had a better PFT contract, because there are some people who wanted to blame all of the problems in public education on the PFT and on the contract. And I can remember telling people when I came back from Huntsville, Alabama in 1966 and I taught for a very brief time as a substitute teacher in the public school system, I made more money driving part time for Yellow Cab than some teachers were making in a public school system, and it was right around 1966 that the PFT was started. And I actually didn't agree with that, because I believe that we could have a fair contract and at the end we would still need more money to fund our system. Well, the Governor did impanel 15 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. a group of people, and people did look at this system. And one of the inevitable conclusions that was reached was that the Philadelphia public school system probably did need more money. Most of you remember, the City of Philadelphia put in, I think, $45 million of annual revenue. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I think, put in 75 or some amount of money, but there was about $120 million of recurring revenue that came to this system as a result of the agreement that we made with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. But that wasn't all. Not only was there an additional $120 million of recurring revenue, but there was about 300 and maybe -- Charlie, do you remember how much money was borrowed? 320 million? MR. McPHERSON: Somewhere around there.
It was about $320 million that was borrowed so that 16 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the School District of Philadelphia would be able to use on an annual basis some part of that $320-some-odd million to balance its budget, because its expenses, everybody understood, were still going to be beyond its revenues even with $120 million of new money on an annual basis, and so we still needed these borrowings. Now, when the dust settled, we had $120 million in new revenues. We also had the borrowings and we had a new CEO. And I think most people were very pleased that it looked to us like our system was on a much stronger financial footing and that we were going to be able to experience some progress in our schools. I hasten to remind people that even as we borrowed $320 million to supplement the School District's annual operating budgets, we knew at some point in time more money would be necessary to run that system, because I don't think anybody believed that we would be able to 17 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. shrink the size of the system so that we would be able to live within our means once the $320 million was absorbed. And another thing happened along the way, and most of us agreed with it and supported it. We had a huge, huge, huge increase in the number of charter schools that occurred right here in the City of Philadelphia. I understand between maybe 50,000 and 60,000 children are in charter schools. We have 54 charter schools. There's a huge charter school movement in this City, a huge charter school movement, and I think most of us believe that charter schools have been a valuable addition to our City, an option that parents like, their children like, because it gives people a role in a public school that's not a traditional public school. But charter schools are also a little bit more expensive, so that there were things that happened that we knew would have a financial impact on our system. 18 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Debra Kahn, who was the first local Secretary of Education that I had an opportunity to appoint, was very, very aggressive in support of charter schools, but also said that we need more money from the Commonwealth for the School District to continue to support an aggressive charter school program. Now, you know, I think most people up until just recently were very, very pleased overall with the progress that we were making. In fact, when I came to this Council in January of 2006, we complimented CEO Paul Vallas, Chairman Nevels and all the members of the SRC and we said, Thank you very much for doing a good job. But in January of 2006 in my budget message, I reminded this City and I reminded City Council that in spite of the progress that we had made, in addition to all of the good things that were happening, this system needed to be improved in a dramatic way if we are going to meet the educational needs and 19 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. requirements of a world-class city in the 21st century. The progress was good, but it was still too slow. We recognized that we had problems in our system. The dropout rate is too high, the graduation rates are too low, not enough children go to school on a regular basis, truancy was out of control. There are huge issues that are not singular to the Philadelphia public school system. We find them all over the country in urban and many other areas, but we couldn't be so caught up in our progress that we failed to take a look to see where we are going, what do we want our system to look like in the 21st century. Let me tell you, I owe a debt of gratitude to the leadership, to the teachers, the administrators and everyone in the public school system. Let me tell you, every one of my children has gotten an education in the public school system, every single one. And I resent it 20 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. sometimes that people think -- I resent two things.
I resent that there are some people who think that because your child goes to the public school system, good things can't happen. A lot of good things are happening to children. A lot of children are coming out of our public school system and doing great things, not only in our City but around our country. And so public education is a wonderful thing, and we've had some great successes. The other thing that sometimes bothers me is this idea that a school should be near perfect in order to justify support and in order to justify parents and children and others making sure their children go to school. I recently appeared at one of the hearings that was being held by our Education Task Force, which I'll get to in a minute, and I stumbled on to maybe 50 to 100 children that were in 11th grade and 12th grade. Some of them were getting ready to 21 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. graduate this year. Some of them are juniors. And I had a candid conversation with them, and I said, No school in this City is so bad that you can't go to it. None. It doesn't matter whether or not you have the latest computers, whether or not you have the fancy -- everything that you have, these schools are worthy of your attendance. And I said that to parents at a recent truancy meeting we had up at the Liacouras Center. People have to send their children to school, have to send their children to school. There are children all over this country and all over the world who would kill to get to a school as good as some of the schools we have in the City of Philadelphia, schools that we know need to be better. And so not having a perfect school environment is no 22 excuse for parents or children or anyone else, any caregiver, not sending their children to school. And so I guess it was in 22 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. September of this year as part and parcel of our efforts to create an environment where people started to take a fresh look at our public education system. CEO Paul Vallas has been around for over four years. Most people are very familiar with his enthusiasm and the support that he has gotten and the progress that we've made. And we had a press conference and we said, We're going to impanel an Education Task Force. We have some very impressive people that are a part of that group. And we said, We want to just take a look at where we are. We want to take a look back and we want to take a look forward, because sometimes you have to look back in order to have an appreciation for where you've been and how you got where you are in order to have a real sense of where we ought to be going. And this group is out there. It's working. It's having public hearings all over the City. And most of 23 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. our public hearings are in the evening. They're in schools. They are well publicized. They're not as attended as well as I would like them to be attended, but, you know, we can't always make people come to where we want them to be, but we can certainly make ourselves available. And so it is our goal at the end of this process to be able to issue a report that says this is where we are, this is the progress that we've made, but this is really where we ought to be going here. Thirty-two, 33 children in a classroom with one teacher and maybe an aide is too many children in a classroom. These teachers cannot survive. )
There's too many children in a classroom. And if we think somehow we're going to get the results that we want with that many children in a class, we are fooling ourselves. 24 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. And so we know that there are proven things that we can do to improve the effectiveness of our classrooms and our teachers, administrators and staff and principals, but those things are going to have to be funded, and in order to fund them, we have to know how many of them we think we need, where we need them and how much it costs to buy those services. It is also our goal to look at all of the things that we are doing in the system today, that we're doing an awful lot of things. For example, there are maybe 30 beacon schools in our system, and these are after-school programs that run until 9 or 10 o'clock at night. They are uniformly loved and used when we have them. We should probably have a beacon school in every neighborhood and in most schools so that our young people will have something to do and families will be able to get the support they need as they try to educate 25 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. their children. Now, we all got a little bit of a shock just a couple of months ago. We were told that -- and in all fairness, I will tell you that I, too, like everyone else was delighted at the School District's testimony at these Council hearings when the CEO and the Treasurer, I guess the Treasurer or the Finance Director of the School District, said that all of our recurring expenses are offset by recurring revenues and that only $5 million of one-time revenue was including in this budget. The testimony further went on to say that approximately $175 million worth of education reforms are fully funded in the budget. And so it was with a sense of dismay and a little bit of distress that we found out that the School District is facing a $73 million FY06 deficit. Now, the SRC has had many, many hours of hearings. I know how many hours of hearings they had because I attended 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. every hour, every minute, every second of those hearings, because it gave me an opportunity to hear the people of this City and their anxiety, their frustration, their hopes and aspirations for the public schools of this City. And I will tell you, those people who didn't -- and I know some Councilmembers had an opportunity to come in and stay for some time, but for me, it was an opportunity to reacquaint myself firsthand with the people of this City on the issue of education. I've never seen a more impressive group of people testify in any venue in any forum ever, and I want to again congratulate the people, particularly those parents and advocates who took their time, who took off work, who came in the driving rain to express their concern for the School District of Philadelphia and to say, We can't afford, the system can't tolerate the kind of proposals that were under consideration 27 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. at the time. Now, it is my understanding that the SRC has voted a whole series of reforms, a series of changes that will require the elimination of many, many positions at the School District of Philadelphia, but that those reductions were tailored to have the minimum impact on the educational services that are being provided by the system to our children and to their families. And I want to thank the SRC for its hard work, but, unfortunately, we are not done. And now I want to express a huge concern of mine and everyone else who has been watching public finances in the City and the School District. Some of us have been doing it for decades. We need a five-year plan for the School District of Philadelphia. We need a five-year plan. We need the kind of five-year plan that the City of Philadelphia annually produces and gives to PICA, makes available to the members 28 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
of this Council that state our revenues, that state our recurring expenses and projects them out over a five-year period. I said to Charlie McPherson when I came here today -- and I have the utmost respect for Charlie and all the members of Council's technical staff. It's real easy for me to do. I helped recruit some of them here, and they do a great job. It's one thing to fight about how money should be spent, and we reserve to fight about how money is spent, and we've been fighting about it. We're going to always fight about it a little bit, and at the end of the day, we'll do whatever we do. We're fighting about how to spend. Some people think we should spend more over there. Some people think we should spend less over here. We're fighting about how money should be spent. But the one thing we're not doing is fighting about how much money we have. I 29 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. will repeat that. It's one thing to fight about how money should be spent. Some Councilmembers think we should put more in recreation facilities. Some Councilmembers think we should put more in other facilities. Some people think we should have more police officers. Some people think we should have more probation officers. We're fighting about how money should be spent. We can't have that discussion with the School District of Philadelphia today, because we don't know how much money we have. We have not clearly defined the costs of providing the educational services that we now provide, and we don't know how much it cost us last year or the year before that, and, therefore, it's impossible for us to know how much it's going to cost us to provide a similar level of services next year and the next year and the next year. And that is a huge problem. I sent a letter to Jim Nevels 30 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and I asked for a bunch of documents. I asked for a lot of information. I said, Give us this information so we can take a look at it and then we can determine for ourselves the nature of the financial problem that is being experienced by the School District. We received a reply to that letter, and we still don't know. And there are people on Council's technical staff, people in the Governor's office, people in the Finance Department of the City of Philadelphia. We are entitled to know. The general public is entitled to know the details of the finances of the School District of Philadelphia. I want to know if we continue to spend at the rate we are spending, less the cuts that were made, what kind of surplus or deficit will we have at the end of this year. And if we project those revenues over next year, the next year and the next year, what will the financial picture look like. 31 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. And I'll tell you why that's important. Because if we don't do that, we will get in trouble. Because right now the City has a projected fund balance of $250 million, and if we project our current expenses and our current revenues into the future, we will have a problem, because we spent more money last year than we took in. And the School District of Philadelphia has been spending more money every year than it is taking in, because if it weren't, then they wouldn't have had to use any of the $300 million, plus borrowings. And so I'm asking, I'm asking this Council, asking the SRC, CEO, everyone who cares and who has anything to do with the School District of Philadelphia, give us an accurate, detailed financial accounting of the money that has come into this system over the course of the last four years. Project our existing expenses on an annual basis in both revenues and 32 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. expenses over the course of the next five years. Show us the anticipated additional expenses that the School District is likely to incur out over that five-year period so we can know the challenge.
Now, that's the challenge that we have if our goal is to maintain the current level of education reform, the current level of programming at the School District of Philadelphia, which I think, notwithstanding the great work of an awful lot of people, is inadequate. And I don't want to be misunderstood. I'd rather have somebody disagree with me than misunderstand me. We have a system that has made progress. Scores are up in a variety of different places. There are things to celebrate in our system, but we also have a financial issue. Part of our financial issue is the state of our finances today, because if you had a $73 million problem last year, that means that our recurring 33 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. revenues are inadequate to fund the level of services that we were providing last year. And so we need to know how much additional revenue is needed to fund last year's program in view of the changes that have been recently adopted so we'll know where we are. Now, in addition to that, unless we decide that the current level of programming is adequate to take us into the 21st century, we have to take that forward look, because I, for one, believe class sizes are too large. I believe that we need more technology in our system. I believe we need to implement the aggressive capital program that CEO Paul Vallas has been talking about. I believe we need more after-school programming. I believe we need more tutoring, we need more mentoring. I believe that we need the aggressive truancy program that we've been talking about over the course of the last couple of months. It is inadequate. 34 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. It is unacceptable for somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 children to absent themselves from school on a daily basis and feel no necessity on a prompt basis in accordance with state law to provide a written excuse. It is unacceptable. Now, if we have between 15,000 and 20,000 children who might absent themselves on a daily basis, I've said, and some people have agreed with me, that it cannot be only the School District's responsibility to make sure children go to school. It has to be the Mayor's responsibility, the Governor's responsibility, the Council's responsibility. It has to be the Police Department's responsibility, DHS's responsibility. It has to be our community's responsibility. All of us have to be responsible for making sure our children go to school. Because when our children don't go to school, they get in trouble. No good thing can happen to a child that's not in school when it 35 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. ought to be in school. They hang out at the Franklin Mills, they hang out at the Gallery, they hang out at neighborhood corner stores. They hang out at the homes of parents who are not properly supervising their children or controlling their places of dwelling. And so we must do something about that. But when we do -- and I am telling you, we're committed, and I've talked to many members of this Council about this individually. I will be coming to this Council with a transfer ordinance and I'm going to say we should put up $3 million and we should increase the number of parent truant officers from 100 to 400 and we should put them out in the street and we should make sure children go to school. You must go to school. And when they do go to school, we cannot send them to the same environment which in many cases caused them not to go to school -- What is this? I'm getting some 36 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. attention. Thank you. -- (continued) that caused them not to go to school. Do you understand?
Children that need educational support, that need tutoring, that need mentoring, that need help with their homework, that need somebody looking after them and, therefore, they didn't have it and they didn't go to school, we can't now send them back to school and they find the same environment that they found that in many cases was unacceptable to them in the first place. There's no excuse for children not to go to school. We're not trying to excuse them, but we do know that there is a practical reality that we're going to need more support for these children that we run back into these classrooms. Because we can't take a child who has a history of truancy for two years, now decides that he has to go back to school, and send him into a classroom with 32 children and a teacher that can barely 37 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. keep up with the ones that come to school that want to be in a school, so we have to have special arrangements for them. And I've had this discussion with Mr. Vallas, and he has committed that we are going to have the services for these young people when we drive them back to school. But you know what? He isn't going to be able to do it under the current funding structure. As much as he might like to, it's not going to happen. It isn't going to happen. He isn't going to be able to deal with whatever changes have to be made in spending to compensate for the budget crisis from last year's budget, fix that, do whatever is necessary to make sure that we don't have a financial crisis in this year's budget, and provide whatever additional services are necessary when we start making sure children who need to go to school go back to school. And so I have tried to be 38 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. clear, because I believe that in order for us to advance the cause and the interests of children in our City, to advance the interests of education in our City and in our Commonwealth and to improve the prospects of having a world-class city that takes care of all of its children, we have to do something about the schools, but we cannot do it unless we come to some agreement on the money. We have to come to some agreement on the money. We might not agree with spending proposals, but we can't argue about how much money we have and the nature of the financial deficit we have for this year and going into the future. So I appreciate the opportunity to come here today, and I guess if we can get a couple of things out of these hearings -- because having spent 19 years here, you can have hearings, but at the end of the day, the hearings have to be worth something. The hearings really do have to be worth something. And I can 39 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. look at the faces of every one of these Councilmembers, and everybody here is somebody that I have some real respect for. Let's make sure -- and I will pledge the cooperation of this Administration and working with this Council and the SRC and the Governor's office to make sure -- and I guess PICA, because we're going to get PICA in this and the Controller, City Controller, Alan Butkovitz, who I think is here today, who, by the way, has been vigilant in looking at this funding, for which I am very grateful. He's actually always messing with our stuff, too, but that's okay. That's the job of a City Controller. Let me tell you something, if a Controller is making everybody happy, then a Controller is not doing the Controller's job. At some point in time, the Controller is going to make some people unhappy. But I just believe that we ought to come out of these hearings and 40 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. there probably ought to be some kind of a written report. It doesn't have to be 500 pages long, but at the end of the day, we should understand, and it shouldn't take -- it can't take six months or a year. It has to probably be done in the next 30 or so days. We have to figure out where we are on the money. We just have to know.
We just have to know. And once we figure that out, then we can put our heads together, we can circle the wagons and we can say, What are we going to do about this? What are we going to do about this? We can't put this on the SRC. We can't put that on Paul Vallas. We can't blame it on the PFT. We can't blame that on anybody. Let me tell you something, there are two primary sources of revenue for the School District of Philadelphia. That is the City Council of Philadelphia, local government, and the Governor and the General Assembly. And we ought to be prepared to go to Harrisburg in the 41 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. spring of the year and fight for revenues, fight for money for the School District of Philadelphia. Can I get an amen? )
Especially the people holding those signs up with my picture on them. Can't you get a better picture than that? I'm over there. Look at me. They got them over there. Over there, they're telling me to stop bickering. I looked over there and I instantly recognized myself. But, you know, we wouldn't have to bicker if we could just figure out -- if we just knew the money. Let me tell you something, I'm prepared to fight for funding. There are some people who might not have been around. It took probably nine years to get the retail liquor sales 42 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. tax, and I know Council President was there every time. It took a decade to get that tax passed, but it was needed for the School District of Philadelphia. But we have to understand our challenge, and I am hopeful that in the new year, we will be able to understand our finances. The Education Task Force is going to be prepared to say if we want reduced class size and elementary school, this is what we have to do and this is how much it costs, if we want certain kind of other amenities. I was at a meeting -- this school system ought to have every good program anywhere in the country. We want our children to go to school. We want our parents to be committed to sending them to school. Then there ought to be things for them to do. I once had a conversation with a certain distinguished Councilmember in the Fifth Council District, who I won't name -- I'm not going to tell him. He's 43 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. not even paying any attention. But Councilman Clarke confided in me that there was a time in his life when he went to school to play football, because the most important thing for him at that time was football. And there are a lot of times when children, they go through this period of time when it might be football, chess, hockey. It could be something that may not be the academics. But we ought to have an education program that's rich enough so that children can come -- we don't care what reason they come. If they want to come for football, God bless them. If they want to come for hockey, God bless them. Do you know I have a son that came for -- he loved chess. He loved chess. He lived for chess. He plays chess today. He was the President of the Chess Club at the University of Maryland. He loved chess. We don't care. Do we care if it's music, if it's art? We ought to 44 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. make sure that there's something at these schools for everyone. No child should be -- (Applause.)
I'll take that. And these schools have to be 24-hour buildings in our City. We need a system that doesn't close the school buildings down when the holidays come. When the children get out of school for the holidays, they ought to still be able to have education, enrichment, recreation. They ought to be able to have activities that can go on in the schools and in the summertime. There ought to be a wealth of activities for our young people. And I don't think we're funded adequately for that, and I think it raises the bar on our commitment to our schools and it raises the bar to the Commonwealth's commitment to education, both in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and in our City. Governor Rendell has probably 45 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. funded public education in the Commonwealth more aggressively than any recent Governor, and we appreciate that, but, you know, sometimes the answer is more. The unions always say the answer is more, but I think in this case, the answer is more, more funding, more resources, more programs, more things that will improve the quality of the environment in our schools and the opportunities for our children. Now, I went through an awful lot and I want to kind of take a look at my notes for just a minute to see is there anything that somebody thought I should say that I missed.
Mr. Mayor, while you do that, let me note that other Councilmembers have joined us. To my right, Councilman Ramos, who is on these Committees as well. To his right, Councilwoman Miller. To her right, Councilman Clarke, and certainly to my left, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds 46 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Brown. The majority of them are members of either Finance or Education Committees. Thank you.
Councilwoman, I have reviewed my notes and concluded that I have covered everything. (Applause.)
I've covered everything. And I'm willing to answer some questions, as long as I'm out of here shortly.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and let me note for anyone who has come in in the last few minutes since the Mayor began his testimony, I will only say abbreviated remarks. We already said that these hearings are with regard to not only the budget deficit, but the dropout rate and truancy, and we hope to get into that more in detail as the day goes on. The issue that the Mayor mentioned was a deficit that we didn't realize we had, and that's part of the issue, because in 47 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. April '06, I have a quote saying that this would be the third balanced budget in a row. So Council has those concerns, and we're also concerned that providing funding will not simply solve the issue and that since the state takeover in '02, the City has provided some 144 million in funding above what was previously provided. Council is equally concerned about the findings of a dropout study conducted at Johns Hopkins University that said only half of the 9th graders in Philadelphia schools would graduate within four years. And, finally -- we only give abbreviated remarks -- we say that truancy is obviously a precursor to dropping out of school, with as many as 80,000 students having more than eight unexcused absences during the last school year. So these are just some of our 48 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. concerns and the reasons we are here and that we as City Council took it upon ourselves even before the break to have these emergency hearings to deal with these issues. I will now open the floor to questions for the Mayor. Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your testimony.
I agree that one of the things that is most necessary is a five-year financial plan, but I don't necessarily agree that it's not debatable how much money that we have. I'd like to direct my questions, which were not originally intended for you because I didn't know you would be here, around the area of District finances to focus on tax 49 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. structure and tax incentives. What changes to the City's tax structure under tax incentive policies do you think would benefit the School District finances? As we look at this, should we be looking at tax policies as well?
Well, I think we should immediately go to 100 percent assessments and we should let the taxes for the School District of Philadelphia grow.
I know. I know. But you know what? At some point in time, the School District of Philadelphia needs more money.
We're having hearings on that in January. We don't agree.
The School District needs more money. The current 50 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. assessment system needs work. It needs to be fairer. We don't need to drive people out of -- there are things that can be done that can make sure that residents of neighborhoods don't get hurt, but we should make sure that we allow tax revenue as a result of increases in the value of real estate to grow in a way that funds this system. And that's just one thing. I also think that there are other things that we can do to be helpful to the School District of Philadelphia. Part of the goal of this Administration has been to establish a much more direct approach and relationship between the Department of Human Services and the School District of Philadelphia in providing the social services that will be important to the School District of Philadelphia. For example, under the truancy program, we're going to fund a huge amount of the parenting programs that 51 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. will end up being provided by parents that have students in our school system. So there are some things. I'm always a little bit surprised that not more attention was paid to the Tax Commission report that was done as a result of a joint effort by this Administration and this Council. We did this report, and this report said, as you know, that we should do everything we can to level the economic playing field. We have reduced taxes in this Administration by $1.1 billion exclusive of any additional reductions that happen in the upcoming year, $1.1 billion. That's a lot of tax reduction. It's not possible to reduce taxes by $1.1 billion, continue to aggressively fund the public school system of our City, cap assessments and do some of the things that we are talking about. At some point in time, you got to have a little bit more money, and I think this system is going to need money fairly quickly, but 52 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. not just coming from local government. It actually has to be a partnership with the Commonwealth.
What about tax increment financing, your opinion and position on that now?
Well, I think the economic development tools that we have right now are the appropriate tools, and I'm not prepared at this time because I know that inevitably the ten-year tax abatement will come up, because it always comes up.
Oh, okay. How did I know that that -- see, I think we have to be very, very careful, because we have made a huge amount of progress in our City in developing our neighborhoods and developing Center City and a lot of areas as a result of the ten-year tax abatement, tax increment financing and the few tools that we have. I remind 53 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. people that we used to spend anywhere from $30 to $50 million a year on economic development through the --
-- Commerce Department. That has reduced dramatically. What do we call the program?
Yes, the Economic Stimulus Program. I remember when we had $25 million in there, it was nothing to have $25, $30 million in the Economic Stimulus Program. So this Administration decided that we weren't going to be able to spend that kind of money. I think we have $5 million, because you always have to have some amount of money. I bet you we've cut that Economic Stimulus Fund by 80 percent. I bet you we've cut it on average -- maybe more. 54 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. But I'm just not prepared to say at the moment that particularly given where we are in our City, that we should start taking away the tools that we have.
But in short, in terms of tax policy, in terms of tax structure and tax incentive policies, looking at tax increment financing, looking at the real estate abatement, looking at full valuation, all of that should be on the table and you think we definitely should look at full valuation?
I think we should look at it all. And let me just say another something. To the extent that we decide to modify the ten-year tax abatement, it shouldn't happen. It should be incremental. We shouldn't walk in one day and say it's here today, gone today. That would be tragic for this City. It ought to be done in a way that is thoughtful, that is well considered. We shouldn't do anything at all 55 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. precipitously.
My only point, Mr. Mayor -- and you know I'm an advocate for economic development resources, but it is still debatable how much money we have because of our tax policy and particularly tax incentive policies.
Well, see, we could fuss about that a little bit, because I think we know how much money we have. If you're talking about how much money we could get or how much money -- or the economic return that we get on certain incentives, then obviously there are all kinds of ways to try to look at that, but when we present an operating budget and a five-year plan -- this is my point, and we know how much money we have. When we present an operating budget and a five-year plan, PICA looks at those numbers, the Controller looks at those numbers, City Council technical staff looks at those numbers, everyone 56 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. looks at those numbers. There's no 3 mystery in our revenues and there's very little mystery in our expenses. People pretty much know. Now, that's what I meant. And there's not been a case in my memory -- and I go back 27 budgets here -- there's not been a case in my memory where we looked around one day and said -- I can remember one time when we were less than candid about a budget or two, but it wasn't like we didn't know. And I know there's some people who don't like that kind of candor in a public forum. There have been times in an election year that we kind of glossed over a couple of things.
No. I'm not talking about -- we never considered full valuation, but I'm just saying --
As an example, like full valuation. 57 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
Well, I don't think so. I mean, I don't think that's a good example.
I think you've been very candid about it, but the people who gloss over the issue of full valuation, that is a serious issue as to how much money we will or will not have.
Well, full valuation is -- to me full valuation is an issue of fairness in the administration of our tax assessment program. For me, it's fundamentally a question of fairness. We must have a system that's fair. Now, part of the problem is, it is never easy, and I've thought about full valuation, how do you get there, and I think that there are some things that you can do. You can go to full valuation, but there are some things that you can do to alleviate the negative impact that it will have on people in communities. We're not in the business 58 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. of running people out of neighborhoods. But at some point in time, whether it's this year or next year, full valuation is going to have to be something that this government actually takes on.
Are you still committed to capping revenue from the move to full valuation at it being revenue neutral to the five-year plan of last year?
I probably want to talk to representatives of the Finance Department before I answer that question at this time. I would want to have all of the most recent revenue information and expense information. I can tell you -- let me give you an example. Right now we have under consideration reasonable union demands that could cost this government far in excess of $100 million in health and welfare benefits over the course of the next five years, far in advance of that. We have firefighters award on appeal. 59 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. They actually came and visited me, as you know.
You could hear them. They were singing happy holidays to me. So it could be as much as $100, $110 million of additional expenses. Before I start talking about capping at what year, I'd really want to kind of take a look at our current finances. I will also tell you that we had an operating budget deficit last year. So these things are moving targets. You can have an operating budget deficit if you have a fund balance of a quarter of a billion dollars, especially if the operating budget deficit is no more than 20 percent of your fund balance. But these things, you have to be very, very vigilant about them, and I would -- but you see, all of 60 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that is the kind of thing that gets discussed in a very open way in this Council when we come up here with an operating budget and a five-year plan. Let me tell you something, we aren't fooling anybody up here on the finances of this City. You got people up here who know as much about this as anybody anywhere, and that's basically what I meant. And there are things that we can do that will cost us money and there are things that we can do that can increase our revenues. I guess my bottom line is that this School District very shortly is going to need more money, both from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia, if we're going to maintain the current reforms and especially if we're going to do something to accelerate the kind of progress we think is necessary in our schools.
Mr. Mayor, obviously most of us don't 61 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. agree about full valuation. We could do it and then in a year from now, you wouldn't have any of us sitting up here to have a discussion with, because the citizens of the City would vote us all out. Citizens don't want full valuation. (Applause.)
They are worried about tax increases, and we are right there with them. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Point of order, Madam Chair, if I may.
Yes, sir. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: A year ago, October, November '05, I had conducted three days of public hearings on the issue of full value reassessment, and since that time, I've probably had a about a dozen community meetings where David Glancy and some of the folks from BRT went out to explain it. For me, obviously it would certainly be an election year issue. I 62 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. think as the Mayor said, the biggest problem is that there are a number of us who believe that full value reassessment is probably the right way to go, but without the tools that will protect long-time residents, we never really could get into that, and that's one of the reasons why I was supportive of not going forward with full value reevaluation immediately, not just because of the election, but because there aren't any safeguards, and until Harrisburg gives us some of those tools, which in many cases we need that legislation in order for us to have those safeguards, I don't think we should move forward either this year or next year. But I certainly think it would be the right way to go. I think it's the fair way to go. And when you look at the value of property in the City of Philadelphia today versus what was the anticipated value, we're certainly much higher in the total value of the City of 63 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Philadelphia. So there may not be the significant increases that some of us were fearful of a year or two ago. So I just want the record to be clear. There were public hearings and it's not that -- I don't want people to think that we kind of buried this thing because we're all going to be faced for reelection. It's a fact that we're all going to have to deal with it at some point, but until we get those pieces of legislation in place in Harrisburg, I don't think any of us should even move on that, whether it's an election year or not. I just wanted that for the record.
Thank you. As my colleagues say, that is a discussion for another day, and we will exempt my colleague from my previous statement. But at any rate, my -- and then I'll call Councilman Rizzo, who has been waiting. We wondered, Mayor, when you fund or try to transfer this 3 million if 64 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you would consider some of the discussions we had when you testified before this Council on our call to action. And we talked about, for example, having those who receive -- they don't call it welfare; TANF assistance, if we could have these parents and maybe this fund could help coordinate parent activities, like those who get checks, being able to work in schools and neighborhood projects, and maybe since you're going to be working with parents, you could help coordinate some of that that. We've been working hard on having other job training activities for low, no 17 income and homeless people and coordinating with GPUAC and others, and maybe this Committee could help coordinate those in a way that deals with this call to action to reduce crime. We want to work with you in that regard.
Well, we certainly look forward to working with you like that. Mr. Vallas will be able 65 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. to explain in some detail how the parent truancy officers are recruited, but they're basically recruited out of the neighborhoods through agreements with community organizations. The goal is to make sure that you have parent truancy officers that are from the neighborhood that know the neighborhood, that know parents and children, that know the schools and have a long history of activity and involvement in the schools. And they have been a fierce force in getting children and parents to recognize their responsibility. Their problem has been there are just too few of them. There have just been way too few of them. And when we quadruple their numbers -- four times, is that quadruple?
When we quadruple their number, I will tell you, there will be a difference in the community. So we believe that for 66 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. children, you really have to do three things. You got to keep them in school when they are supposed to be in school. You have to keep them engaged between when school is out from the time their parents come home, which is largely 6, 7 o'clock at night after work, when there are after-school programs, and then with our curfew centers, stay off of the street at night. You should be home, not having children wandering around the street at 11 or 12 and 1 o'clock in the morning. And I think I'm looking forward to getting a new curfew bill out of City Council that is going to make it an even more stringent curfew ordinance. The Council President worked with us in South Philadelphia. We put a curfew center as a pilot in South Philadelphia, and it has been very, very successful. The incidence of violence against youth, the incidence of youth being engaged themselves as perpetrators of violence has gone significantly down 67 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. since we established a curfew center. And we will have an additional four curfew centers by January of this year and a total of a dozen curfew centers by June of 2007, because children must go to school, children must be busy after school, and children must be home at night. And if you do those three things, we think you go a long way toward improving the prospects of children staying out of trouble, getting a decent education and becoming productive adults in our society.
Thank you. We appreciate that, because this Council has done a lot of work. I'm reminded back when Herb DeBeary was here -- so I'm going back a long time -- when we did hearings on the dropout rate then and we came up with issues like school uniforms. In fact, Mary Mason was a big proponent of that. And we came up with the issue of PP, parent patrols, and I thought about it when I saw some 68 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. parents in here the other day with the armbands. We suggested back then in '91 or '92. So Council has been working a long time on these issues, and we're happy to see that little by little we move along, and when good minds come together, we can see some positive results in spite of all of our issues. So we look forward to working with you in that regard. Councilman Rizzo.
Mayor, one of the things we should maybe put on the list to deal with the dropout rate is the fact that I believe in Pennsylvania a child can leave school at 16. Maybe there ought to be a real good look at the possibility of raising that age where they can just voluntarily say, I'm done, I'm not going to go. And I understand there are some other municipalities, some other states that have an age that is higher than 18 years old. 69 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
Well, that is certainly something we should take a look at. I think there's a practical problem with increasing the age too much beyond 16. These children, for all practical purposes, become emancipated. It's just really hard. Unfortunately, we have children today who are years old, 13, 10 15 -- and the parents are very, very 11 candid. Parents will say, I can't do 12 anything with them. Now, the fact that 13 the parent might not be able to do 14 anything with them doesn't mean that the school and society can't do anything with them. We sometimes have to intervene on behalf of the parent. That's the basis for the whole juvenile system. That allows parents to actually come in and say to a court, I need help monitoring the behavior of a child. You should be aware of the fact that we've taken all of that into account in the truancy program, and to those parents who suggest that they are -- and 70 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. many of them who are being brutally candid about this, and it is a very distressing fact for them, they admit they can't do anything with their children. Judge Dougherty and the Family Court are fully prepared to bring those children into the court, and if we end up having to give them a serious amount of supervision through any one of the Department of Human Services programs, we will do that. We have the Adolescents Violence Reduction Program. It's a program that is relatively new that is specifically geared to engage a child between the age of 10 and 15 who is on the verge of delinquency but not delinquent. On the verge, not going to school, having all kinds of issues. And the goal is -- and you can get a detailed explanation. The goal is to take that child, that family, and assign that child to a program. It will get a person that will be able to check and make sure it's going to school, because there are 71 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. parents who have a very difficult time. But raising the mandatory school age is something that we can certainly take a look at. I'll ask the Education Task Force to look at it, and you can challenge the School District representatives to take a look at it, too. I think there is also a problem with the age children start school. I think children in our City can start school as late as eight years old, and most people think by that time they should be in the second or third grade.
Agreed. Just a moment on the budget. I would love to be supportive of that transfer ordinance, but it's difficult. I know the answer to this question, but the constituents, our constituents, sometimes express a concern. You mentioned earlier about the number of layoffs in the School District. You as the Mayor, we as the Council, how 72 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. confident are you that the money that the School District has is being handled appropriately? Do you believe that the School District is running efficiently? Because you have constituents e-mail "how can the School District lay off 80 people and it still run efficiently"? I know the answer to that question, but it's tough to communicate, Mayor, to the constituents that the School District is running or other government agencies are running as efficiently as they can be. That's one of the issues that I hear constantly.
Well, look, this whole business about the sudden nature of the deficit and the amount of the deficit -- because it's not just the deficit. If it were $5 or $10 or $15 million, people would say that could happen in any budget, but it's the amount of the deficit and the sudden nature of the deficit that has caused people a lot of concern. 73 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. I have this philosophy or this theory about all of this that I sometimes reserve for people who work for the Mayor, but I'll share it with you at your request. I think every four or five years you ought to go back through and figure out where you might be able to be more efficient. And so it doesn't trouble me one bit that Mr. Vallas can say, I can use 50 fewer people or 75 fewer people. We've reduced the number of people on the payroll of this government by probably somewhere between 800 and a thousand people. I mean, you end up having to do it. As most people know, I was born and raised on a farm, and we had hedges on that farm, and those hedges would grow and grow and grow and grow and grow, and every five years or so, my father would come -- anybody here ever lived on a farm? My father would cut the hedges all the way down, and I remember when he 74 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. first did it, I would said, Oh, my God, he's killing the hedges. No, he was not killing the hedges. What he would do is, he would cut them all the way down and then they would grow back and you had an opportunity to shape them. Budgets are like that. Budgets grow. They grow. You put people over here. You get a problem. You put people over here. Now you got a budget that's growing all over the place. And it's not unreasonable -- and we're into the fifth year of the new administration. It's not unreasonable for a CEO to be able to say, You know what, I can trim this budget back, I can cut it back in some areas. Now, you and I wouldn't know, and I've never said that the School District can't do with fewer administrators, fewer support staff. Only they know that, but we will know shortly, because if they cut back too far, then what will happen is, the programs will suffer, because somebody 75 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. has to monitor the programs. I mean, in our government the first thing that goes is Public Property and some of those other administrative service entities, but you know what, if you cut them back too far, then no one gets any service. So you have to be real careful. I believe that, by and large, our system is reasonably run and it is not well enough funded. I do believe that there are programs that we are operating now that we probably can let go. We don't need everything that we're doing. Some of the things that we're doing we decided to do as an experiment. But part of our interest in having the Education Task Force work with the School District, work with advocates, parents, Council, everybody, is kind of take a look and let's make some judgments about some of this stuff. We might not be able to do everything. We always did, but there are some core things we should probably do more of and there are some 76 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. other supportive things that we should probably do some more of, and there may be some other things that we find have cost us money but might not be worth the trouble that we should eliminate. That's a part of the analysis that the Task Force would like to do with the School District and the SRC and be able to say, Here's where we ought to be going with public education. Look, you don't have to be really smart to know that if you have 14 children in a classroom with an aide or 15 two, you're going to be way better off 16 than if you have 32 children. So that 17 kind of thing is at the top of 18 everybody's lists of further reforms. But we should be looking at all of those things.
Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I'm glad you didn't hedge on that question.
Thank you. 77 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Mr. Mayor, we only have two more questions for you.
If Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown would wait a moment, because this is a follow-up question from Councilwoman Miller with regard to your testimony.
I just want to ask a question regarding AVR -- the Youth Violence Reduction Program.
Right. It's my understanding that the AVRP services children from 10 to 15. 78 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
So what 7 happened with the 16-year-old? We were 8 at a community meeting and this issue was 9 raised, the point was raised, from a 10 couple different providers. 11 What are we doing for the 12 16-year-old and why were they left out? 13
We structured it 14 from 10 to 15 largely on the 15 recommendation of the professionals who 16 believe that those were the children who 17 could most benefit. I sat in a meeting and was told that there were about 3,000 children between those ages that were at risk. I think the thought is that children between 16 -- and I probably should distinguish between the AVRP and the YVRP. The Youth Violence Reduction Program are people who are already in the 79 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. system. These are people who already have probation officers. These are people who, for the most part, are at serious risk of either committing or being a victim of serious violence. The AVRP, on the other hand -- and they have to be adults. They're not juveniles. They have to be adults. The AVRP program, on the other hand, was designed to capture people before they got into the Youth Study Center or before they got into trouble, and in point of fact, the focus is on the younger of the children. We find that many times there are families and they'll have multiple children in the families, and we want to be able to service as many of them as possible, but this was -- we did an annual report card, and if you look at those report cards -- and we saw long before anybody was talking about it in the community at large -- we started seeing the increase in violence, both 80 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. perpetrated by young people and young people being the victims of violence. It was about two years ago. And we decided we needed to do something about it. We created the AVRP program. I don't think that there was any intention to exclude the 16-year-olds, but the 16-year-olds, they get to be out of the reach of a kind of program like this and they end up getting to be the kind of -- you need more adult-oriented programs for those children that are getting older. I'm more than willing to sit down or have the Managing Director and folks kind of take a look at it if you think that there is a serious gap and a serious need, but that was really the thinking.
Okay. Well, that will be good if the Managing Director or whatever committee takes a look at that, because there is a gap, as expressed by some of the providers. Now, 81 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. I originally didn't think there was a gap, because I figured that the 16-year-olds could get service anyway, and I can't really remember the exact circumstances, but this particular kid couldn't get help because he didn't fit into each one of those programs, but I'm sure that there must be something for him.
See, there are a huge number of programs for those children who are in the dependent system because their families are dependent. The juvenile system provides a huge amount of programs for 16-year-olds and others. This is a special program that's designed for children that are not in the juvenile justice system. This is designed to be the ounce of prevention that keeps us from ever needing to spend the pound of cure. We don't want these people showing up down at the police station. We don't want them to be 82 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. habitual truants. We don't want them to be trotting around the streets and get into the juvenile system. When I had my orientation to all, we were actually going over all of the programs that we were going to ask the Commonwealth to fund under the needs-based budgets, and I got a briefing on all of that and I asked a ton of questions like we do, and recognized that we needed a program to keep children out of the juvenile justice system as opposed to just kind of letting them hang out and then one day they're down at the Youth Study Center. And so that's all that material.
And I agree. Certainly prevention and intervention programs are basically needed, but it would be nice, and I'll get the information and forward it to the Managing Director.
For the 83 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. specifics, and I'll copy you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
First, a point of information, if I might, with regards to the state mandatory starting age is currently eight and this City Council has actually introduced a resolution urging the State Legislature to support State Representative Roebuck's bill to lower the mandatory age to six, and we're all waiting to see what the State Senate will do with that bill.
I think we should make them go to school when they're four.
I mean, early, 84 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. early, early childhood education.
Secondly, know that we, especially I, look forward to your signing of the curfew bill that should be moving to your desk soon that was passed unanimously out of this legislative body. So we expect that that will strengthen the bill and in many ways hold parents and facilities more accountable who allow children to be out past those hours stipulated. My question goes to the second group of young people you've spoken about, young people who are out during the hours of 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. I should first commend you for your commitment to increasing the number to now 65,000 young people. The facts say that there are still about 35,000 children who have no 21 place to go after school. Now I get more letters and a lot of phone calls around the issue of the quality of our after-school programming. We have our beacon schools. We have the Philadelphia 85 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Free Library providing services. We have Safe and Sound, DHS, and I know that the Rec Department has done a great job in standardizing services to children. What's your perspective or view at this hour given our improvement in the provision of after-school programming to now take a good look at continuum of quality?
Well, when I became the Mayor, we used to joke that some of our after-school programs consisted of herding children into a gym, locking the door and saying, You can't leave until 6 o'clock at night. And they were different children every day and there wasn't a continuum of service, that they didn't have a curriculum and that didn't have regular --
Right. And, in fact, I got criticized -- you wouldn't 86 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. know this, because only a Mayor would know this. I got criticized by a lot of people because we started imposing these standards on after-school programs. Because after-school programs and recreation programs are all --
They're not baby-sitting services, and you can't just -- I mean, there were people who were in our after-school programs, they wanted to just be able to go out and recruit a bunch of children and count them on the way in the door and not even be able to identify who the children were, whether or not they came on consecutive or multiple days. We stopped most of that, and we did adopt a whole group of standards, because these are educational programs and they're educational, they're cultural and there's a lot of enrichment that has to take place or else they are a little more than 87 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. a baby-sitting program. I think it is fair for you to say to us, Let's just take a look and make sure we're doing everything we should be doing. We have this discussion all the time, and not being the Managing Director or any of these Commissioners, I'm not armed with the kind of detailed information that might already exist, but I will tell you, we don't tolerate programs that are baby-sitting services that don't have real enrichment for these young people. We increased the amount of prevention programs, including all of our after-school programs. I mean, we spend probably $90 to $100 million a year on that programming, which is up in a dramatic way. But it isn't enough. I agree with you. We didn't make sure that these programs are operating. When I became the Mayor, we did an analysis of all of this, and at that time, we were told that we probably needed 100,000 after-school slots in this 88 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. City, and I don't know the most recent numbers, if it's 65,000, whatever it is --
It's a huge improvement, and we have probably put at least 50,000 new after-school slots. But I believe every child ought to have an after-school opportunity. It's one thing if parents have other resources and have other plans, can make other plans, but no 14 child in this City should have to leave school and be your traditional latchkey child because there's no place to go or nothing to do. That is a recipe for disaster. Because typically they don't go home and just close the door and stay in the house. They go home, they may get a little something to eat and then they're out in the street. We live in a society today where so many parents and caregivers are all working, and many of them are working 89 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. out of a necessity to work. They work in jobs that might not pay a living wage. So, therefore, sometimes the parents have overlapping work schedules, and these children are home all by themselves. There ought to be something for them to do. There ought to be a place for them to be, and that's our goal. And, in fact, as a part of the analysis we do with the Education Task Force, we will talk about after-school programs and how effective they are, how many we need and how they should be funded, because for me, this is a critical part of a component of making a neighborhood a safe, special place for children and families.
So in short, the Education Task Force is going to look at the issue of quality?
All right then. 90 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
I think I'm getting a nod from Secretary Barnett that it's on the list.
Mr. Mayor, we note that, as you know, I started out as a school teacher as well in my first life.
And certainly as Education Chair, we have printed and continue to print newsletters. The editor is Ms. Dolores Mohammed, who is Principal and Chairman of the Board of the Essence International School in Nigeria. I serve on that 91 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Board. And we've printed newsletters for daycares who have them at home so that they have an educational component. This Committee continues to do that, for those who may not be aware. We've continued to print newsletters and make them available to daycare providers at home so they have an educational focus, and we've also taken them around the world. There's an open classroom model that is also used that's been taken around the world to deal with basic skills. So this Education Committee is involved in many aspects of education, and we wanted all of you to be aware of that. Councilman Ramos, and then I'm sure, Mr. Mayor, this is the last opportunity. And we're sorry any of you who have to wait, but we will be inviting Mr. Vallas on next. Thank you. Councilman Ramos.
Thank you, 92 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Madam Chair. Mr. Mayor, your advice to us, if I hear correctly, and correct if I'm wrong, is that, one, we should ask the State for more money to fund our schools --
That's not semantics for me, because the State will say, the first thing he did was say the State has to put up more money, and to me, that's too sensitive for me to not mention.
I understand. Two, that we have an obligation to make sure our schools run effectively so we can probably make those 93 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. classrooms smaller. What happens in the event that the State of Pennsylvania does not want to increase the funding for our School District? What do you recommend? What do we do?
Because it's obvious we won't be able -- and, again, correct me if I'm wrong. I think it's obvious that we won't be able to pick up the tab to be able to pay. I mean, can we afford to give 20, 30, 40, 50 additional million dollars for our School District? It's probably the right thing to do, but where does that put us? What happens if the State says no, that this is our funding level and we're not going to give you any more?
Well, I don't like to speculate on a negative, because if you start speculating on a negative, you have to be careful. You'll create an environment where you can't get done what 94 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you need to get done. I'd rather think that there are a number of people in Harrisburg that are committed to public education. We have a Governor that's made education a huge priority in his first four years, and I said it's important to both the Commonwealth and it is important to his goals and objectives for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We have a City delegation that is a very, very strong, well-experienced delegation. I believe that we have to create an environment where it will be possible for us to fund public education. I don't think we should -- I don't go to Harrisburg in the spring of the year with a negative outlook. There's new leadership in the Pennsylvania Senate. There are maybe 50 or so new House members who say that they are interested in education and interested in good government in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The first and most important thing is, we have to 95 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. be prepared to make our case. We have to be prepared to make our case. And if we make our case, I think we have a great prospect, a great chance of getting some additional support out of Harrisburg. Let me be more specific. I think we've got -- and I've said this and I'll continue to say it without apology. We have to understand the finances of the School District. We have to understand how much money we have, how our money is being spent. We have to project the costs of our programs over the course of the next year and then five years so that we know where we are. We have to determine where we want this District to go, the size of our classes, how many children do we want, the kind of programming that we want that we know works for the City of Philadelphia, that will work for our region and work for our Commonwealth. And then I think we have to develop the kind of alliances around the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania so that 96 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. we aren't standing alone. I mean, one of the things that Paul Vallas said at the recent SRC hearings is that we can't go this alone. We cannot go this alone. And I'm sure he'll be here and he'll tell you that. He'll repeat that. We can't go this alone. We have to be in the position where the kind of programs we have and the money that we ask for is supported by Allegheny County and people all around the Commonwealth. I was just at the Pennsylvania Society on the past weekend and I talked to the Mayor of Reading, who has an alliance with Mayors all around the counties out there. They meet on a regular basis. We worked with them when we went to Harrisburg in our efforts to get the Commonwealth to be more sympathetic with the problems of guns and violence. Well, I think we have to reach out to our other areas. We have a delegation that's helping us do that, and 97 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. I think you got to create a certain demand for high-quality education in the City of Philadelphia and around the Commonwealth. And then we have to have our delegation saying and the delegation from some of these other places saying, You can't get a budget unless you help solve this part of this problem. You can't get a budget. Let me tell you, this is going to be a tough budget season in Harrisburg. I heard the Governor's comments at the Pennsylvania Society, at the Pennsylvania Manufacturer Association luncheon. I went right there Saturday. I listened to his -- it's going to be a tough budget cycle, but you know what, that's just doing our job. It's going to be tough, and I hate to reduce this stuff to a cliche. But we're going to expand our Convention Center. We're going to bring gaming into the City. We're going to do a bunch of things that are important to our City. You know what, in 98 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES.
060806, ETC. addition to all those things, we should take care of our schools, not just in Philadelphia but our schools all over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. If anybody thinks the City is the only one who has a potential problem with funding, then you don't know the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This Commonwealth doesn't have a distinguished record of funding public education. As I've said, Governor Rendell has done probably a better job than most recent Governors. And I think we have to create an environment, first in our City and then around our Commonwealth, where people will understand the critical nature of our needs and tie them to the future of our City and the future of our Commonwealth. I think you can't do that without reaching to the business community, our philanthropic community. I mean, we have to get all parts of our community engaged, and I think we can get some help out of the Commonwealth. But 99 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. it's also going to require that the City of Philadelphia also come up with money, because just as we did with our original program, we came up with money, the Commonwealth came up with money. They're never coming up with money if we don't come up with any money, and I think that's going to be our challenge.
Thank you very much. Thank you all for your patience. I hope I don't have to step out in the hallway for any reason, because everybody wants to go next. Having said that, thank you, Mr. Vallas, for your patience. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for your testimony. We appreciate your being here and look forward to working with you on all of these issues. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. 100 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Our Controller, Alan Butkovitz, will precede our CEO of the School District, Paul Vallas. Alan Butkovitz, Controller, welcome. Thank you. Good morning. Next will be Paul Vallas.
Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chairman and members of Council. In listening to the testimony on this very complex question of the current school deficit, I'm reminded of a story that I first heard when I was about eight years old, and that involved a skeptic in Europe who went around from rabbi to rabbi with the challenge, Tell me everything there is to know about Judaism while I stand on one leg, and everybody was mightily insulted. There's a lot of complexity to this. You're trivializing it. What do you mean? And he finally came upon Rabbi Akiba, who said, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. All the 101 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. rest is commentary. And pretty much that's the punch line of this. There's really four main points that I want to make and the rest is really commentary. The first point is, this deficit in the current school year isn't resolved yet. I saw that there was an announcement in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Saturday indicating that the gap is closed. Well, the heading is that's not over. Number two, I would endorse as a very sound idea the Mayor's proposal for a five-year plan and note that the School Reform Commission has already adopted policy to see that that comes through. The third is the need for transparency in school budgeting and school spending. And the fourth would be need to give Mr. McPherson and your very able staff another job and get this Council very proactively involved in the review 102 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. of the school budget instead of just reviewing a one-page summary. 3 million deficit. 8 million. So right off the bat, there's another $20 million, which is obviously very, very difficult to reach. 9 million that's supposed to be achieved through debt refinancing. 7 million for Fiscal Year 2007. 9 million credit for the current school year. There is credit taken for $5 million under the heading Investigate Refinancing Options. It's a speculative 103 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. comment. 3 million in savings as a result of an audit of charter school enrollment that has not yet taken place. It's premature to determine what savings, if any, are going to be available before the audit has been done. So there is a lot of work to be done and there is a lot of vigilance to be exercised on the part of parents and others who are interested in preserving school programs, because they are not out of the woods yet. The next point I would like to make is that just about every participant in government and politics in the City of Philadelphia has been on the right side of the school funding issue for as far back as you can go. This is not a matter of good guys and bad guys. I see signs here about stop the bickering. I'd like to know who the enemy is, because the enemy is not in this room. The City of Philadelphia has 104 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. increased its appropriations to the School District over the last four years by $144 million, and this Council deserves a lot of credit because that means that you're taking grief from taxpayers and from other people that would like to see that money spent and, at the same time, an additional $300 million in funding from the State. Plus, the School District was given permission to issue $300 million in deficit bonds, which have now been entirely spent. 1 billion. So the idea that someone has been withholding money is a misguided idea. Money has been showered on this experiment at the same time that we've seen a drop in enrollment from 215,000 to 175,000 students. So the amount of spending per pupil has also increased. We've had a ten percent increase a year in the school budget for four years at a time when inflation has 105 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. been three percent. It's a lot of money. The issue is, since there are still unmet needs, why is the 40 percent increase insufficient?
How is that money being spent, and how much money would it take to achieve those objectives? I would parenthetically note that I come into this role both as a graduate of the Philadelphia public school system myself, a 1969 graduate of Overbrook High School, and as someone whose two children are recent graduates of the Philadelphia public schools and who spent 15 years in the State Legislature heavily involved and committed on public school issues. I voted for every single state tax increase necessary to increase appropriations to the Philadelphia schools, including the 2003 appropriation that Governor Rendell earmarked specifically for smaller class size. I took intense pressure from school voucher advocates to support public schools as opposed to the voucher 106 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. movement for many, many years and, in conjunction with Representatives John Taylor and Bill Keller and Marie Lederer, led a three-year investigation that detailed the extent of violence in the Philadelphia public schools, which produced a 300-page detailed report and which was heralded by Paul Vallas when he came into town as a template for action. And I think if you go back to the news articles on Mr. Vallas's appearance in Chicago, you will find many instances of love letters between Mr. Vallas and myself. We were partners in that effort to clear up and to take more proactive steps on the violence problem in Philadelphia schools. My job now is to take a cold-eye view at the numbers and to be a referee on these issues. So I want to call to this Council's attention certain trends in school budgeting over the last four years. First of all, there has been an overwhelming increase in no-bid 107 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. contracts, which do not require SRC approval. They were $587,000 in 2002. 7 million. The business consultant category for no-bid contracts in 2002 was $13,000. 3 million. Okay? So when there is consideration for cuts in programs that affect children, be mindful that there are other items that have not been put on the table that have experienced extraordinary increases in that period of time. We would point out in the line item budget for the School District there are several entries which are at very large variance with the expenditures. There has -- just give me a moment. In the Risk Management area, for example, the amount that was budgeted for personal services in Risk Management was $217,700. The amount that was spent was $8,322,088. That wasn't the first year that that happened, although the same figure 108 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. of $217,000 was also budgeted the previous year and the spending was approximately $3 million. This highlights the need for transparency in the budget. It is not just an internal document. It is not a memo from the School District to itself. It is not something where you're just trying to make the gross numbers at the bottom balance out to a certain figure. Anybody with a financial background has to have their interest piqued at how spending in that item can be 3,922 percent of the budgeted amount. In the same area under Professional Technical Services, the amount budgeted is $25,000. The amount spent is $3,694,000. Now, I'm stunned even at this point, because the constant battle that I've been running into as the Controller vis-a-vis the School District is this idea that would you please just go away because we can manage this as a private 109 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. matter, and I think with respect to these signs about stop the bickering, that that kind of reflects the same kind of opinion. But it is not pointless bickering. Those are substantial questions. Those are questions that have an effect on what happens to our children. The Council should be asking those questions. The Legislature should be asking those questions.
The School Reform Commission has recently taken significant steps to reinforce its staffing and to bring in consultants so that it has the expertise to delve in in detail into those questions. Because when you have an area that has grown by millions of dollars that does not provide direct services to children or students at the same time that you're talking about foregoing discretionary money for principals to hire arts and music teachers or cutting out after-school programs or any of the myriad -- cutting out transportation services for children, 110 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. policymakers would like to know if there are matters that are more removed from those direct services that can be dealt with first. That is not a matter that I believe should be lightly deferred. School District has undertaken a multi-billion dollar capital spending program and we have seen variously described goals of construction of 75 new schools, new schools. Almost a 12 billion dollars has already been 13 borrowed. Most of it remains unspent. 14 We are many years into the time period where the construction would be done at a time that there has been an extraordinary inflation in building costs caused by a variety of factors, including the reconstruction in Iraq and China's competition now for building supplies worldwide in a massive building program that is going on in China, 53 percent increase in building costs in the first six months in this year alone. That means that if you have an initial 111 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. 8 billion to accomplish all that building and it now costs 50 percent more to get the same work done and you have delays that seem to be unending, one of several things is going to happen. 8 billion capital program. It will have to be a $7 billion or a $10 billion program to redeem all those promises. The actions of our office are not being done for purposes of harassment, but for purposes of providing a baseline so that all the people who have an interest in what happens to the schools have a detailed fund of knowledge, as you do when you deal with the City budget, as we did when I was in Harrisburg in dealing with the State budget. It's my personal view that there is going to be a significant tax issue on the floor of this Council after 112 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the beginning of 2008 and that part of that will be with respect to additional funding for the schools. So a clear understanding of what it's going to cost, what you're going to get for it and what you're going to forego is going to be in your lap. The School District needs to operate within the same frame of discipline that the rest of us have to operate within.
Thank you, Mr. Controller. That was excellent testimony. You mentioned specific areas like Risk Management, professional services, building costs, and we hope that when Mr. Vallas testifies, that his people with him will take note to this so that we may hear some response to this issue, as well as issues like no-bid contracts, et cetera. The Controller's testimony is certainly for the public record, as will his actual testimony be on the record, and so we hope that we can get responses 113 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. to those important issues. Any questions? Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Mr. Controller.
With regard to the issue of tax structure and tax incentive policy again, I want to specifically focus now on tax financing projects. What is your position on TIFs, not just in the past but in the future?
I think it can be a useful tool in stimulating development.
Do you believe that forgiving taxes was necessary in each of the projects that have been approved over the last four or five years?
No. And, again, when I was in the Legislature, I was one of the votes that opposed the 114 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. proposal to provide TIFs and other tax benefits to the Comcast project on the basis that a program that was envisioned to provide an initial stimulus to depressed areas, the entire City of Philadelphia has legally been defined as a distressed area, so that people were able to come into very vibrant, profitable areas like Center City and with a straight face argue that they needed no taxes or they needed substantial incentives to do that. I opposed that. So it really depends on the particular case.
Well, actually, most of the TIFs that have been done have been done in Center City, and the truth of the matter is that I've argued for several years that it was taking money away from the School District, it was not necessary to finance those projects. So what position will you take as Controller on future TIFs 115 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. related to School District finances?
I think that my position with respect to Comcast would be reflective of our position generally. I mean, if the surrounding area will support the investment without that incentive, it should be done without that incentive.
And what's your position on the real estate tax abatement program?
My personal view right now is that at the time that it was enacted in 1997, there was no 16 building going on and it was necessary at that time, but that it has achieved its purpose of making Philadelphia, in particular Center City Philadelphia, a hot development area that should be able to sustain those types of developments without a ten-year tax write-off.
So that program should be on the table in terms of future consideration? 116 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
But I would agree with the Mayor in terms of a phased reduction, because I'm opposed to doing anything that will be a jolt or a shock that will cause a major rethinking of development projects.
What other recommendations might you have about tax structure or tax incentive policies that you think will affect the School District finances in the future?
Well, you know that I believe that there's been a -- contrary to the concept of progressive taxation, we are in the position of moving in Philadelphia towards an evermore regressive tax situation. Essentially we have a 60/40 ratio right now between wage taxes and property taxes. Wage taxes have been highlighted as a significant issue. We've gone from five percent to four percent. We're going down further. It has been earmarked for reduction as a result of 117 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. casino revenues. Whereas, property taxes, both because of the unrealized -- the untapped appreciation of real estate and because of proposed changes in expediting the way that reassessments are done, as well as the proposed full valuation project, we could see a shift in that ratio where half or more of our revenues come from real estate taxes as opposed to wage taxes. That's a problem for a variety of reasons. First of all, long-time residents whose ability to pay is not reflected in the paper increase in the value of their homes, and the very real danger that in gentrifying neighborhoods and across the City people who are too poor to pay the real estate taxes will be driven out of their neighborhoods. Secondly, that the commercial and residential development in the City has in fact become one of the City's leading economic engines right now, and it has to be viewed not just as something 118 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that involves consumers, but as a major business of the City. I really think that we should have a graduated state income tax. The State should be moving in the direction of a greater role with respect to public education on many of these issues and that really the tax restructuring you should be looking at, although it's not within your purview, is an amendment to the State Constitution, because it's very difficult for Philadelphia to achieve the kind of equity and the adequate resources that it needs within the boundaries of the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you very much. Are there further questions for our Controller? (No response.)
Thank you, Mr. Butkovitz. At his request, Mr. Vallas has 119 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. asked that some of the students have a chance to speak before him. They probably asked him, as they've been asking me, but at any rate, we have Powel School, Helen Gym, parent, Powel Elementary School. Andrew Broggins, I suspect, is with her as a student, and also Steve Alston, organizer, Youth United for Change. Thank you for your patience. We're trying to do the best we can in trying to move our hearing along expeditiously. Thank you. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
Good afternoon, everyone. First of all, I would like to say there's a lot of students here who have probably taken the day off of school because of the timing of these meetings. So first and foremost, I would like to say if any student is here who took the time out of school to be here, can you please come down and join us or stand up. 120 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
My name is Steven Alston and I'm representing Youth United for Change. (Applause.)
Thank you. Welcome. We're happy to have all of you.
Once again, my name is Steve Alston. I'm a 25-year-old lifetime resident of the City of Philadelphia. I'm also an Olney High School alum and proud alumni and staff member of Youth United for Change. I'm speaking on behalf of 7,000 students in five high schools that make up our organization who would have loved to be here but because of the timing of these public hearings could not be. Students of Youth United for Change come from Olney, Edison, Kensington, Strawberry Mansion and Mastbaum High Schools. However, the 121 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. alumni of Youth United for Change, while we all make up voters and communities that you all represent throughout the City of Philadelphia. The students in Youth United for Change want to tell the leaders of the City of Philadelphia that it is imperative, imperative to find a way to better support our public schools. Students deserve that the City of Philadelphia use funds in the City's surplus toward education first. We are here today to ask our City officials to work with the School Reform Commission and with the School District of Philadelphia to close this funding gap that is currently hurting students in very, very negative ways. We must find a way to effectively build a long-term strategy and working communication between City and District leadership to fully fund our public schools. And I'll just end by saying, 122 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. students of Youth United for Change demand that the adults responsible for funding their public education, we're just hoping that you all can find a way just to work together to protect the future of the students in the School District of Philadelphia, because what that means is protecting the future of the City of Philadelphia. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Alston.
Good afternoon. I want to thank the City Council staff members for allowing some of the parents who took off personal work and family time and who were at the bottom of the speaker list to be able to come forward, and also to Mr. Vallas for allowing us to have a moment to speak. My name is Helen Gym. I'm a parent at Powel Elementary School in West 123 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Philadelphia. I'm also a member of the Citywide parents group that's been coming together specifically around the budget cuts. I want to say that I think I can say that every single parent in here has probably had enough of public hearings, of task forces, of consultants paid for studies and reports, while our kids lack the basic necessities in our schools. We are not here -- (Applause.)
-- to testify, to pose for your cameras and to show this support, but we are here to fundamentally demand leadership on this issue of the public schools and the budget deficit that it is now facing. Parents and students came to this City Council last spring to raise our concerns about the School District's budget and to beg this body to ask the right questions, demand answers and provide the public authority that parents 124 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and students at the time lacked. This past summer a group of parents met with every single education committee staff member to discuss the seriousness of this budget. We pressed on even though one Council staff person had the District's budget on her radiator and said she hadn't had time to go through such a lengthy document even though it was late July. This past month the School District held four days of public hearings on the school budget issue. We are very grateful that the Mayor came to every single one of those hearings and sat through more than 12 to 14 hours of public testimony. We were there. Hundreds of parents and students turned out to hear what the District had to say. But where was Council, save Councilwoman Blackwell, who definitely came and we appreciate that. We have been fighting for our schools and our children about this issue 125 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. for months on end. So you'll have to forgive me if I sound a bit tired at the idea of yet another public hearing. If you don't want to use your surplus, then we ask you to at least consider your priorities in this school budget. And by the way, what I mean by that is that the City's surplus, which is my wage tax dollars, my real estate taxes, and we have an issue with our public schools in crisis. Number one, we ask you to pay your bills, your rent, your utilities to the public schools. Number two, pick up after yourself. Please consider trash pickup. Number three, pay your own employees. Mr. Butkovitz, you would have a lot more authority if your office and the Bureau of Revision of Taxes were not taking away my children's teachers, my children's art programs and my children's enrichment programs. We have had days of talking and 126 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. no promises about our schools. If we are here six months after the hearings in March arguing over the same cuts, if we have not protected our schools and our children, if we have not even restored our funds to them, if we have not made a commitment to class size, to our truancy, to our dropout rates, then what is the point of all this testimony and all the talking? The most we've heard is bickering between Mr. Vallas and the Mayor and the deafening silence from the Council body. So we need to know this is not a charade or a pass at a public process. To all of you who have power and titles and who are appointed to serve our children, we need to know that our kids are not your version of a political football field, a place to trample or to mow under with the notion of fiscal rather than moral responsibility. Parents have fought valiantly and with faith in both the District and 127 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. City that you will protect our children, you will place them first. You have the funds to make the difference today. Stop talking, please, and fund our schools. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Reverend Paul Weeks, parent of a bright young lady in Central High School and two kids in the Jenks Elementary Middle School. To the Mayor, to City Council President and Councilmembers, history will judge all of us ever so severely. God help us if we don't grab this budget by the throat and make it do for us on the front side of our kids' potential. Because that same budget we will see again battling pistols, murder rates and building penitentiaries. God help us. Our kids' future cannot be DOA. This is very critical. We all in this room know how to keep guns out of kids' hands. It's not really a big mystery. We all know how to keep guns 128 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. out of these kids' hands. Put a book in it, create a thirst and a hunger for learning. Mayor Street, Council President and members, put an end to this bare-bones educational mentality. Every parent knows it begins with class size and it ends with class size. (Applause.)
Philadelphia public school system deserves to be robust. Councilmembers, $20 million will be like a steel levee that won't break under pressure. We need Councilmembers to step up to the plate and feel real good and real proud about $20 million. It will be like a steel-granted levee that will not break under this pressure. That will, once and for all, seal up and secure our young people's future for generations to come. The $20 million, metaphorically speaking, is a two-point conversion, because in case you haven't noticed, we 129 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. are first and goal at the one yard line. There's only time for one more play, a two-point conversion for this win for the City of Philadelphia, no timeouts. An extra point won't do it. One point meaning $10 million, if you'd make that discussion and want to argue with yourselves. Two points, $20 million will win this deal for the City of Philadelphia. Mayor Street in his absence, I wanted to let him know that I am aware that he has many adversaries, that he has endured dirt, darkness and despair, but, see, this two-point $20 million conversion will sew a $20 million love seed for our kids, for City Council and for this Mayor's legacy. Love covers a multitude. A $20 million seed will sew over 100 fold. Think about this for a minute: This is a futuristic anti-crime check. For our kids, for City Council, check mate. They say this City Council couldn't get with 130 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. this Mayor and build stadiums. That's history. They say this City Council couldn't get with this Mayor and finish the Convention Center and the Kimmel Center. That's history. But for the foundation of the world, destiny is calling again for you fine ladies and gentlemen to step up to the plate and put a $20 million check, check mate. History is the ultimate judge. It begins with class size and it ends with class size. Let history judge. Thank you. (Applause.)
Let me say to this Committee we were happy to bring some forward. We have no idea how many of you are there. We will hear those at the table and then we'll bring on Mr. Vallas. Thank you very much. Mr. LaVan. MR. LaVAN: Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam President, Madam Chairwoman, distinguished members of 131 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Council. Thank you for affording the parents around us this opportunity. Along with the parents, students, community members surrounding me at this moment, we have been screaming, testifying, talking, trying to get attention, not for the last week or two but for the last year and really since the spring. What comes to mind to me -- and I have the privilege and honor of knowing some of you on a very personal level, but what comes to mind to me as I speak to this body is that Rome is burning and our Legislature is playing the fiddle as Nero did. You don't realize what is happening, and we are here to bring this to your attention. I am also here to offer you something that is easy, simple and can and must be done without delay, and that is class size reduction, the linchpin to any and all reform. (Applause.) MR. LaVAN: I don't believe 132 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that this body is aware that from 2002 through this spring we had class size reduction. The School District of Philadelphia was improving. Our test scores, our numbers show it. Were we to our goals? Of course not. But were we moving in the right direction under CEO Vallas? Yes, we were. Were we moving under the right direction under Chief Academic Officer Thornton? Yes, we were. Something has now gone terribly wrong, and the buck starts here, for what happened in the spring was the elimination of the class size reduction initiative. For the first three years of the Vallas administration, class size mandatory roll-back to to children, 19 we saw improvement. Very quietly, 20 apparently without telling Council -- and 21 you'll have to ask CEO Vallas why that 22 was the case, but without telling 23 Council, the class size reduction program 24 was eliminated systemwide. The only cap 25 on class size at this point is the 133 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. contractual cap of the PFT of 33 children in a classroom. I'm the President of the Home and School Association at Shawmont. I'm a product of this system. Thirty-three children in my son's class is too many children. I challenge any one of you to tell me that I am wrong. If I am wrong, I will stand up and leave right now. Thirty-three is too many. And we as parents and community leaders, we knew in April this was just the tip of the iceberg. We went before the SRC. We went to the media. We came to this body. Nobody paid attention. Rome was starting to burn. Now there's a full-fledged fire. People have been laid off. Classes are being leveled. Split grades run rampid throughout the City. We need money. We need your help. Thirty-three is too many. You trusted Paul Vallas. You trusted Dr. Thornton six months, a year ago. I have had my clashes with Paul 134 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Vallas. Some of them are legendary at this point, but I have learned one thing in this process, Mr. Vallas, Dr. Thornton and I am sure each and every one of you share with us the goal of the best possible school system for our children. I don't doubt that any one of you want that. Well, if I am right, if we are right, take a look at one issue first, what has happened to class size. It has exploded back to the contractual limit of 33, and it's too many. Take action immediately. Get the School District the funds to reinstate beginning immediately a real class size reduction program so we can again have school reform, for if you don't, we will all be looking at school failure. Thank you. (Applause.)
Madam President Verna, Councilman Blackwell, I was asked very graciously to thank you 135 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and also just to ask you for two more minutes. There's two parents that want one minute each. If you will grant that, we'd really appreciate that. Thank you for your patience.
Please, have a seat and let us -- it's quicker to proceed. Identify yourself and then --
Good afternoon, Council President, Committee Chair Blackwell and members of City Council. Thank you very much for this opportunity for public hearings. My name is Patricia Toy. I am the parent of a 7th grade student at the Albert M. Greenfield School and I am Co-President of our Home and School Association. Greenfield was the victim of the budget cuts that the School District 136 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. suffered this year. We lost one of our 4th grade teachers in mid October to leveling, forcing us to go from three classes to two large 4th grades. One of our 4th grade classes had been a small group of students who are performing 8 well below grade level. It was our 9 principal's thought that if he could give 10 these students more individual attention 11 in a small class setting, they would have 12 a better chance to improve and hopefully 13 reach grade-level performance before 14 entering 5th grade. Now these 16 15 students, along with the others, are in 16 two large classes, with no opportunity to get the additional attention and help they need and deserve. Class size does matter. Research studies prove it. And ask any classroom teacher and they will tell you that class size is one factor that can have the greatest impact on student performance. Fewer students in a class means more individual attention from the 137 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. teacher. It means a calmer classroom environment, and it has been proven that in a smaller class setting, students experience continued pressure to participate in learning activities and they become better, more involved students. We cannot abandon the class size reduction initiative. We cannot renege on our plan for true reform of our public schools. We cannot settle for mediocre or inferior education for Philadelphia public school students and consider it good enough. Our students and our schools have come a long way in the last four years, and I commend Paul Vallas and the SRC for their vision and for setting the bar high. But we still have a long way to go. Let's not abandon our goals for high achievement. Let's not abandon the plan for class size reduction. I believe in public school education and that every child has a 138 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. right to a good, quality public school to attend, and I know I am not alone in believing that inner city children deserve good, quality public schools just as suburban students do. (Applause.)
Or students in any other part of our country. Let's not treat Philadelphia public school children as second-class citizens. Let's give them their fair share of the pie. Let's make education in our public schools a top priority. The City, the State and the School District of Philadelphia must work together for the good of our public school students. They need to partner together to see that our schools get the funds they need to provide a quality education. Our students have proven they can achieve. They have the test scores to back this. Let's remove the obstacles and give them the tools they need to succeed further. Class size reduction is 139 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. a key factor. We have a long way to go, but look how far we've come. Let's keep the bar high, and our students will prove they can reach it. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Please identify yourself for the record in either order and begin your testimony. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Delores Shaw and I'm Vice-Chair of the Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project, EPOP. EPOP is a member of the Out-of-School Youth Collaborative, which has spent the last two years looking at the issue of out-of-school youth and our dropout rate around the City, but, more importantly, I am here too as a mother. I'm a mother of a sophomore student at Mastbaum Vo-Tech High School and a 17-year-old son who now sits at home because this year he will be part of the 140 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. 2005 dropout data. At first, I was concerned about combining the three issues of education at this particular meeting, but it occurred to me while I was sitting back there a minute ago that all these issues are interconnected. The issue of equity and equitable funding for all our Philadelphia public schools had driven the School District into the ground. Poorly maintained and dilapidated schools serve students who have no clear educational goals, who have no 15 educational drive, and in the end, after they go to school long enough, they begin to disengage, then they become truant. And a truant student to the City of Philadelphia is a student who is invisible. They do not exist. As a second thought, I want the Council to understand that every student in the City that drops out is not a juvenile delinquent, is not a criminal, nor are they some kind of thug that runs 141 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the street looking to kill someone. Most of the young people that drop out of our school drop out because they become disengaged, disenfranchised and just lost. We need to do all we can. (Applause.)
And I implore every Councilmember sitting there that this is a problem that expands long outside our homes. I sit here as a parent, and a few weeks ago I had to admonish a parent for saying that we were all being bad parents, we weren't doing everything we can. That's a lie. The number of parents that actually aren't keeping their commitment to send their children to school and do what everything we can to endorse them getting a good education is very small. Every parent and young people sitting here today that have taken their time to come here is concerned about their education or the education of their children. (Applause.) 142 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
I ask Council and our State Reps not to become involved in a spurring match over who is going to fund our schools, while our young people and our children fall victim to a fight that no one will win. (Applause.)
And as a sidebar issue -- and this is somewhat personal -- I'm going to ask City Council to look at the role of CEP, Community Education Partners, and the role that they play on our schools. From September to February, my son attended CEP. He was a victim of violence while he was there. He was a victim of violence before he came. My concern is for the educational capacity, for the educational resource and for the education, this for-profit company provides most of the students they're supposed to teach. The population of students they teach are highly African-American and Latino, and I can assure you my son always said that 143 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the only requirement that a teacher has to teach at CEP is that for the men, that they be at least six foot tall and over 250 pounds, and for the women, some of them are just the same. I shall tell you that this is nothing more than an excuse for a jail. There is no education going on there and there's a contract where someone is making big money and they're making it on the backs of our children. (Applause.)
I thank you very much for your time and for listening to me today. (Applause.)
I'm Justine Gudenas and I'm also a parent from Greenfield School. And as Pat Toy said, Greenfield School at one time was a star school of the system, and it is 144 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. suffering. The art program was cut back, music was cut out, Spanish as a second language has been cut out, and this is happening to what was supposed to be the best school in the system. I'm also urging City Council to very closely look at the School District budget. There really is no objective oversight of the budget. The two entities that are overseeing the budget are the City Controller's office and also a private company hired by the School District, and yet ten employees of the City Controller's office are actually paid by the School District budget. In fact, Vallas in his proposed budget asked that the salaries of ten employees from the City Controller's office, who are doing no work whatsoever for the School District, that their salaries be taken off the budget. That was not done by the School Reform Commission, which was supposed to be overlooking this budget, and there's no explanation given as to 145 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. why that is so. And, of course, the salaries of these ten employees, who are not really doing anything for the School District, that money is being taken away from the children. So I'm just simply giving one more example of why it's so very, very important for City Council to closely examine this budget. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. We thank you, parents alike. And certainly all who are here will certainly get a chance to testify, those who haven't, further along in our hearing, and we thank you. We will now ask Mr. Paul Vallas, CEO, School District of Philadelphia, Sandra Dungee Glenn, School Reform Commission, to come forward. Thank you all. I thank everyone here for your patience. I promise everyone who would like to 146 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. testify will, and I apologize for the lateness of the hour and for delaying everyone from busy, busy schedules. Thank you, students, as well. We would like to acknowledge the presence of students from the Parkway West High School who are in the balcony. Thank you for being here. (Applause.)
We thank you very, very much. I'd like to thank members of the Committees on Education and Finance for their patience, and we certainly would like to thank Councilman Kenney for being here as well. Good afternoon. Thank you and thank you for your willingness to certainly defer to parents and students who have been here. Thank you both.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and good afternoon. I'm going to lead off with our testimony today and then be followed by our CEO, 147 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Mr. Paul Vallas. First of all, let me say good afternoon to you, Madam Chair, Madam President and to members of the City Council Finance and Education Committee. And even in his absence, I want to acknowledge the Mayor and thank him, as always, for his strong support of public education and all that he has done. I have the privilege and honor of having been appointed three times by the Mayor to our educational bodies, first to our Board of Education and then in 2002 to the School Reform Commission and then was reappointed in 2005 to our School Reform Commission for a second term. So that is very much an honor and a privilege. I am Sandra Dungee Glenn, one of the five Commissioners on the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, and you need to know that I am joined here in Council Chambers today by my colleague, Mr. Dan Whelan, and I'd just 148 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. like for him to be acknowledged in terms of his presence here today.
We certainly welcome him to come forward. Mr. Whelan, you're certainly invited.
It's always good to know, Madam Chair, that he does have our back, though. So he is right back there. I want to say on behalf of Chairman Jim Nevels that he sends his apologies and is sorry he is not able to join you today and thank you for inviting SRC to speak with you. When the SRC first came before this distinguished body five years ago, we were embarking on a monumental journey to turn around a school system that no 21 one believed in and to prove to the City, the State, our children and all of our stakeholders that our children can learn and they would learn. Today, the School District of 149 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Philadelphia's system of reforms is providing a national model for urban districts across the country. We are improving academic achievement and financial responsibility. In the first year of our reform efforts, the School District standardized and implemented an entire new curriculum. We mandated summer school and extended-day programs for the first time in Philadelphia's history. We negotiated a child-friendly contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers that put children ahead of politics. We openly and honestly reported incidents of student violence, in spite of the political ramifications of those numbers if those numbers were to rise, and launched a zero tolerance policy to school violence that would extend beyond the schoolhouse doors and beyond school hours. We expanded school choice by creating privately managed schools, EMOs, 150 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. alternative schools and increasing the number and diversity of charter school options. And just as a note, in 2002, the EMOs were given five-year contracts and those contracts will be up for review this June 2007. The School Reform Commission will evaluate if and how EMOs will continue in Philadelphia. I also should note that currently we have 54 charter schools and that they are educating approximately 30,000 Philadelphia school children. We are due to open another six to seven in September of 2007. It should also be noted that 17 of our 54 charter schools made AYP last 18 spring 2006, and I think that's very 19 important for us to note. 20 We set quantifiable goals and 21 deadlines, advanced in The Declaration of 22 Education. The Declaration drives public 23 education reform in our School District. 24 It sets an exceedingly high standard for 25 early literacy, academic achievement, 151 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. school climate and safety, community involvement and administrative operations, all to be achieved by the year 2008. In 2006, our students achieved a record fourth consecutive year of growth in math and reading scores for all District students whose scores are used to measure Adequate Yearly Progress, AYP, under No Child Left Behind. 1 percentage points since 2002. Scores in virtually every demographic category are up. Scores at our 37 small high schools, those high schools with 500 or less students, outpace scores at larger high schools with more students scoring advanced or proficient in math and reading. For this, we are extremely proud. Five years ago, one of the immediate goals set by the School Reform Commission was to make ourselves 152 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. accountable for every decision, accountable to employees, to students and to the citizens of Philadelphia. Radically changing the public's view of public education is a formidable task under the best of circumstances. But slowly, we believe we are rebuilding support for public education in Philadelphia and building confidence in our public School District. Ninety-four percent of the District's teachers are now fully certified, and the District's Academy for Leadership is training a new corp of skilled and motivated school principals. Some have called our progress in turning the District around unprecedented, but we call it mandatory.
As you have heard widely reported, the District has come upon a budget deficit this fall, the origins of which CEO Paul Vallas will explain in greater detail. The SRC is working with management to adjust our FY07 budget to 153 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. close this deficit and return the District to sound financial footing for Fiscal Year '08 and beyond. We have been taking deliberate steps to manage this deficit, and we have made every effort to make this process as transparent as possible so that all of our stakeholders understand how we are working to resolve this problem. We have held hours of public hearings about 12 the budget. 13 And I appreciate that, 14 Councilwoman Blackwell, you have attended 15 some of those hearings. And we want to assure you that parents' and citizens' comments and testimonies are having an impact on us. We take our fiduciary responsibility to the children of Philadelphia very seriously. The SRC has acted with urgency to avert damage related to the deficit. However, we will not undermine successful reform. We will continue to develop and implement 154 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. policies that improve our fiscal and organizational oversight of the District in the Mayor's call to the SRC, and we agree with him on the urgency of our finalizing our five-year plan. In November, the School Reform Commission created the Financial Accountability Unit, FAU, to improve the process of reviewing and reporting on programs and budget. Many partnerships have formed over the last five years, and these partnerships have been at the heart of the reform process, and it is crucial to continue community involvement in our schools if we want our children to succeed. Most important are our partnerships with the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We will not reach our goals without your confidence, support and continued investments in our educational reforms. Our work is well begun, but 155 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. much more remains to be done. We have seen four years of unprecedented growth in standardized test scores. 5 percent of our students scored proficient in math on the PSSA. 8 percent scored proficient. That is impressive progress, but the flip side is that just under 60 percent of our students have not reached grade-level proficiency in math. Much work remains to be done. Our reforms are helping all students across the demographic spectrum. The math and reading scores of African-American, white, Latino and Asian students have all risen. But the achievement gap for black and Latino students, their performance as measured against their white peers, remains virtually unchanged. Work well begun, but much more remains to be done. The District is aggressively tackling the dual and related problems of truancy and high school dropouts. A 156 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. number of research-based initiatives have been implemented: school realignment to a K-to-8, 9-to-12 system, middle grade supports, smaller high schools, 9th grade academies, upgrades to career and technical programs, CORE Philly Scholarships, athletics and other extracurricular activities. All are solid initiatives intended to decrease truancy and dropout rates by making school more relevant, engaging and connected to students. But we must still find programs that address recovery as well as prevention. CEO Vallas will talk about both our dropout recovery and truancy programs in detail. Again, our work is well begun, but much remains to be done. The SRC wishes to thank Mayor Street and City Council for the City's valuable $3 million contribution proposal to the anti-truancy effort. With the contribution, the School District will expand the number of parent truant 157 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. officers.
By working together to resolve the truancy problem and addressing why all of our children don't attend school, we can reach them before they officially drop out of the system altogether. We know we can't do it alone. We need your help. Just as we have successfully worked together to get to this stage in the reform process and as the effort to fight truancy has shown, the children of Philadelphia are the beneficiaries of our partnership. We believe the best of what public education has to offer in Philadelphia is still to come and our brightest days are still ahead. We owe it to the 184,000 children we serve to attack our work with urgency and fidelity so that they can benefit from the best and brightest we have to offer. The School Reform Commission is made up of five independent individuals, but three things unite us. Number one, no excuses; number two, children come 158 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. first; and, number three, success is our only option. I thank you for the opportunity to address you today. )
Thank you very much, Ms. Dungee Glenn. We appreciate your testimony and its positive tone. We welcome Mr. Vallas. We realize we all are in this together and that it is our responsibility to try to come up with positive solutions to the problems that plague us. And thank you for your patience, for being here today, even calling this morning to talk about a press conference you had today and then waiting to allow at least the majority of the parents to try to get their testimony in today. Thank you. And thank you, Ms. Dungee Glenn and members of the SRC.
Well, thank you so much, Madam Chairman. Before I get 159 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. started, I just wanted to -- I always get frustrated when there is some misinformation that goes out, and I just want to correct certain statements that were made here earlier. The School Reform Commission approves every contract over $25,000 and, every contract under $25,000 is approved by a review committee, which, incidentally, reports all those contracts to the School Reform Commission. So I didn't want anybody to think -- if the School Reform Commission wasn't approving those contracts, I don't think we'd be spending all those hours twice a month deliberating all those contracts. So the School Reform Commission does approve all those accounts. I'd love to have unilateral authority to pass those contracts, but, unfortunately -- or I should say fortunately for the public, I don't. So I just wanted to point that out. A second point I wanted to 160 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. make, too, was, there was a claim made that the School District has overspent in its Risk Management administrative account. Let me point out that we bill 6 to that account all the Risk Management settlements. As you know, about four years ago we embarked upon a campaign to, in effect, get the heavy workmen's comp caseload off our books. We were paying, I don't know, upwards -- I don't know the exact number, upwards to $10 million a year. So we issued a Risk Management bond, and we've used the proceeds of those bonds to pay for the settlements. And the settlements, I don't know -- the year in question, I think the settlements were $8, $9 million. So we record that on the Risk Management line. So it may look like there's 50,000 in administration, but there's an $8, $9 million payout, but that's the settlement payout that's paid to get the workmen's comp people off our payroll. If someone had asked, we would 161 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. have given them the explanation. So to assume here that, my God, we have a $50,000 line and we're spending $9 million, it's very, very, very misleading. That's our Risk Management payout line. We've always billed to that line. Let me point out that the workmen's comp reforms to date have saved us about $20 million, and it's going to save us money every year, because we have individuals -- we had some individuals who have been on workmen's comp since 1962, 1963, just to give you a sense. So the City has gone through similar reforms. You're very familiar with them. And, of course, we've gone through those same reforms. So I just wanted to make that point. A final point I wanted to make, too, is, every single major project in our school construction program, with the exception of the West Philadelphia High School and possibly Dobbins because the 162 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. public meetings are still going on in Dobbins, either those projects will have been started or the contracts will have been let really before the end of the school year. So the bottom line here is, we're delivering on everything we promised. I do want to point out, though, that like every municipality, we have to follow rules. We have to acquire land. We have to have public hearings. We've had something like close to 700 public hearings. How many public hearings have we had on West Philadelphia High School? Each one of you know, though, the degree to which we've had public hearings on these projects. The Kensington High School, for example. So we've had exhaustive public hearings. And we have to go through the regulatory commissions like everybody else. And that, with some great degree of justification, can be a prolonged process. You have to go through zoning, 163 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you have to go through the regulatory departments, you have to go through the Arts Council.
So, likewise, if you plan a school and you finally break ground a year or two years later, the cost of that school is going to be a little higher than it would have been if you started it two years earlier. The bottom line, though, is, the process is what it is and we experience the cost increases, you experience the cost increases, the private sector experienced the cost increases, but that's the nature of the system. And I'm not criticizing that system. I'm just pointing out that it's a little misleading to say, oh, my God, they're spending more on their schools. I do want to point out, though, that the average change order on our school construction programs is four and a half percent. That is unprecedented. That is extraordinarily low for the public sector. That's even low for the 164 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. private sector. So when we build things, whether it's the Microsoft High School or it's the Audenreid School or it's the Gratz addition or it's the Deburgos School, that work comes within cost. So I just want to point that out, because I don't want to create the impression that we haven't delivered on the capital plan. Let me point out, the capital plan addresses one-third of our need. So we should be talking about how we're going to do Phase II of the capital plan rather than questioning the quality of Phase I. And as you know, I've provided, as I do every year, summary books identifying every single project and initiative in every single district, and we make that information available, from school construction to after-school programs to summer school programs to new schools, and we'd be more than happy to make that information available again. 165 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. So I just wanted to make those three points of correction. I didn't want people to think that I can just award contracts without rigorous supervision or, for that matter, somehow we overspent in line by $8 million. Again, if we're asked, we'll give the explanation. But a lot of times we're not asked. The statement is made and then that's it. First of all, I likewise would like to thank this body for their long-time support for the School District on so many levels and the members individually, because I think we've had a lot of success in our school reform issues because we have been responsive to the local leadership. Having come from Chicago, Mayor Daley always used to say, All politics is local. In Philadelphia, all politics is local, but the individuals with the ear closest to the rail, so to speak, are those individuals who can guide us more effectively. The 166 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Council men and women here know the neighborhoods. We have never been steered wrong when we ask their advice and their input in the process. I duly admit that I probably make more promises than I deliver on, but as somebody said, Vallas keeps half of his promises, but then they said in the same breath, But some of his predecessors didn't make any promises. )
You can make that decision yourself. At least we try to keep as many promises as we can. But it's our desire to do a lot. We have a District that's financially -- that has struggled. The School Reform Commission inherited a District with huge -- $100 million of the deficit financing bond the year the School Reform took office and the year that they got the deficit financing proceeds had to be spent just to pay the previous year's bills. By the 167 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. second year of the School Reform Commission's existence, the deficit financing bond proceeds were about $140 million, and we all remember those days, or at least you remember those days, because I kind of parachuted in here about the seventh or eighth month of the School Reform Commission's existence. But there has been a desire to do a lot. I was criticized early on. A lot of people said, Don't pretend like you can do it all, or You got to ask for more. But our approach has been to try to work behind the scenes to secure more funding, while at the same time doing the best we could not to make excuses and to do as well as we could with the resources we had. And now we may have come to the end of our rope from a financial standpoint, but I think that effort has produced results. And I'm going to summarize those results in a few minutes after I've summarized why we kind of got into this budget fix. Because I do want 168 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. to point out that in 2002, the School Reform Commission did lay out some ambitious but yet totally appropriate goals, goals that if achieved would define us as a superior district, and at the same time, the management team laid out a document called Vision 2008, which articulated the things that we were going to do to help put the School District in a position of achieving those goals. And if you look at my testimony, every single year, at least the last three years' testimonies, you've seen not only the goals discussed, but you've seen the vision articulated and you've seen me give status reports on that vision. And I'm going to talk about that shortly. I do want to say this, though: When I testified before City Council last year, I testified and I said that the current year, that the '06-'07 year, budget was balanced, and we felt that that budget would be structurally balanced. The challenge that we faced 169 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. wasn't in the '06-'07 budget. It was in the '05-'06 budget. In effect, we ran a much larger deficit than we realized and we had forecasted. If you remember, last year around this time in January, the School District initiated -- we actually in December made a number of proposed cuts or we proposed a number of cuts in our mid-year budget, because we felt expenditures were exceeding revenues and we felt that we were going to be running a deficit and that deficit could be a sizable deficit. And we deliberated over those cuts, quite appropriately, for the better part of two months before initiating those cuts. We put a freeze on hiring. We eliminated some minor contracts. We encumbered some unspent discretionary spending, or at least we thought we had encumbered those dollars. So when I say that when we talk about the deficit, we were concerned as of December and January that we were 170 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. actually going to be running a deficit, and we attempted to initiate certain actions to kind of head off that deficit. As late as August, we were projecting what we then thought would be a smaller deficit of about, I don't know, $22, $24 million and we thought a manageable deficit, until we were surprised as we began to close our books with the $73 million deficit.
So, again, the problem when we testified in '06-'07 on the '06-'07 budget, we felt we had a structurally balanced budget and we felt that we would finish the year with at least a very small -- the previous year at least with a very small deficit and hopefully a small draw-down on the remaining deficit financing bond proceeds. That said and done, we did finish the year with a $73 million deficit. Now, while that constitutes a little over three percent of the School District's budget, I'm not saying that 171 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that is an insignificant amount, but I've always felt that at this present time, it was a manageable amount. But obviously for a school district that is always financially challenged, even a manageable amount can have impact on programs. But let me summarize the highlights of why that deficit occurred. The first reason for the deficit was a receipt of about $13 million in revenues that we were projecting in '05-'06 that actually were to be received in '06-'07. There was the Plan Con, the State school construction bond reimbursements that came later than anticipated. We had to roll it over into this year as opposed to last year. There were proceeds from the sale of two pieces of property that we had budgeted for last year and we did not receive those proceeds. In fact, we're just settling on the sales now. One of the sales for the Durham building were challenged in court, so that delayed us closing that 172 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. deal. So there's about $13 million in income that we did not receive in '05-'06 that rolled over into '06-'07. Obviously that was part of the $73 million deficit. The second thing was, we significantly underestimated payouts for individuals who retire or who are separated from the District. Our term pay was based on historic trends. We had always projected about $20 million. The previous year we had million in term 14 pay. That's kind of been the historic 15 level of term pay. The only time we've 16 had higher term pay is when we did our 17 early retirements. 18 We ended up getting hit with a 19 liability of almost $30 million, and it 20 was due to the fact that we had about a one-third higher rate of separations than we had anticipated, "separations" meaning retirements, individuals leaving the system, part-time individuals leaving the system. It was much higher than we had 173 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. projected, and as a result, we had a payout. When people leave, they're entitled to a portion of their sick days and vacation days, et cetera. So the term pay was almost $10 million higher. Now, that could have been done to a number of reasons. As you know, the No Child Left Behind mandate on highly qualified, you can't work in the school unless you're highly qualified, whether you're a teacher or support staff. That impacted in June of last year. Thus, there were a lot people who separated from the District because they did not reach that high qualified status. So there are a lot of reasons for that, but, again, it was a reasonable underestimation given historical trends. And had I micromanaged the budget process myself, I would have never projected 30 million. I would have projected 20 million. The next big difference or the big surprise was in salvage. 174 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Historically this District has always salvaged. These are unspent appropriations anywhere from $25 million to $30, $35 million. And we this past year salvaged $6 million, which is a historical low, which is unusually low. And there's no way we could have calculated or estimated a salvage of this low. But hindsight being 20/20, we probably shouldn't have been surprised, because when we did the mid-year cuts, when we cut at mid year, as you know, we proposed a whole series of cuts in December that included us encumbering unspent discretionary funds at the local school level, et cetera.
We estimated we were going to target certain monies that we were going to try to secure and not spend, but we deliberated over the budget cuts for the better part of two months. So by the time schools went out and started encumbering, when we asked schools to save 30 percent of their unspent discretionary spending in 175 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. February, it was a heck of a lot less than it was when we proposed it in December. So the combination both -- and the same thing with department heads. People moved money around and encumbered funds. So we had a historic low salvage, because we base cut at mid year. So those items alone that I talked about, the lower than anticipated salvage, the higher than anticipated term pay, the additional revenues or the late receipt of the revenues, we also did not attrit. We did not realize the savings from attrition that we had anticipated, central office attrition. As you know, we added 119 additional teachers in this current year's budget, and we assumed that our attrition from last year and this year would, in effect, cover those additional hires. That was probably way too optimistic an assumption. We probably should have proposed specific cuts then, central office cuts then, to 176 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. finance the additional teachers. But we came up with about six and a half million dollars short on that. So we got hit with all those factors and then some others that really contributed to the $73 million deficit. So, again, on the flipside, though, we could salvage million this year 10 instead of 6 million, or we could have a 11 historic low number of separations, in 12 which case we would have a pleasant 13 surprise as opposed to an unpleasant 14 surprise. But the point here is, while 15 you can understand and perhaps 16 rationalize the miscalculations 17 individually, collectively they become a 18 little more difficult to explain and plus 19 the impact, kind like a financial perfect 20 storm, so to speak. 21 But, again, when you're 22 pressing the envelope to do a lot, you 23 will always run the risk of overspending 24 your resources. I mean, if we see something that works, we try to do it, 177 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. whether it's a dropout prevention program, whether it's hiring parents to serve as truant officers, whether it's partnering with 47 community-based organizations to help us with community policing. We certainly have pushed the envelope. And when you do that, you're going to run the risk that you're going to run deficits. The question isn't are you going to run a deficit, but the question is can you manage that deficit, and in going in and cutting, can you impose the type of cuts that are going to have the minimal impact on School District programs. And the deliberations that we've had, really since late October at the direction of the School Reform Commission, the public hearings, bringing in independent entities like PFM and others to give us a second opinion, have all been driven by a desire to balance our budget but, at the same time, to do so in a way that would have a minimum impact on the schools and on our critical 178 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. programs. And I think what the School Reform Commission has given me the green light to do does that. We do make $73 million in adjustments. Most of those adjustments are full-time adjustments or permanent adjustments to the base. A part of the adjustments are one-time adjustments. We did a bond refinancing that's going to generate about $13 or $14 million. There are some other one-time things that we're going to do. But the objective here has been to do the things that won't really adversely impact classroom instruction. We don't want to do what we did last year, which was go in and try to trim discretionary spending or not fill critical teacher vacancies.
Let me point out that while the leveling we've done has created some controversy, quite appropriately because we haven't leveled downward in four years, we've actually to date hired about 80 or 90 additional teachers to fill 179 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. vacancies in schools that were overcrowded. So we continue to staff at the local level to obviously address our critical staffing needs. But if you look at the cuts that we've made -- and in your red book on the right-hand side, there's a list of the specific budget adjustment categories -- you'll be hard-pressed to find something that is having a direct impact in schools. If I can summarize, we've targeted contracts, we've targeted non-educational operations, we've targeted vendors, we've targeted private providers, we've targeted all our alternative school providers. There was an increase at the state level to expand our alternative school services. That increase is going to be slower than anticipated, thus saving us money. We're doing another round of healthcare re-enrollments. So I think we've done a number 180 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. of things, all designed to save us money, but also designed not to adversely impact in the classroom. If you go through that list and if you have any questions along the way on that list, please let me know. Let me point out that probably the biggest cut and probably the most painful cut was the central office cut. Now, I freely admit, I've tried to avoid laying off people over the last four years. I don't think I've ever laid off a teacher. Certainly schools will lose teachers if they lose population, but we haven't been laying off teachers. And we tried to downsize the central office through attrition. And when you look at the first year, 2001, RIF and then look at the attrition since 2001, the central office prior to this cut has been reduced by about 25, percent, and we did it 22 for a lot reasons, to help us balance the 23 budget and also to help us shift money 24 into the classrooms. 25 But this was the first RIF, so 181 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. to speak, or reduction in force, that I've had to do on my watch here, because attrition just wasn't getting us what we had anticipated. We did eliminate 175 positions. The criteria that we wanted to use was, we wanted to eliminate positions who the work of which could be picked up by someone else. So we didn't want to eliminate the function as much as simply reduce the number of personnel managing the function, so to speak. So there were some critical positions eliminated. But my individual department heads can come up if you have a specific question about any particular layoff, and they can talk about who now has responsibility for performing that function. In eliminating 175 positions, we'll save about 6 million this year and annually 16 million in the out years, because obviously you have payouts, term pay when you eliminate positions, and the positions are being eliminated at mid 182 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. year, so you're not going to realize the savings. So we have to say -- and term/payout is somewhere, I don't know, between $3 to $4 million, so obviously that's going to cut into our costs. But because we had 47 vacancies and because 53 individuals who are teacher and counselor certified are going to be able to bounce into vacancies at the local school level, we, in effect, are only going to be laying off 81 people. Now, 81 people is still 81 people, and that is painful obviously for the person who is being laid off. So what we've done is, we've created a job bank that is up, website, et cetera, and it is staffed by representatives from the Human Resources Committee, and what we have been doing really in the last month is, we've been reaching out to all of our private school providers, our charter school providers, our private vendors, our alternative school providers, our 183 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
contractors, asking them to identify vacancies that exist and then working to match individuals' credentials with those vacancies. And if you go to the website, you will see dozens and dozens of jobs, and that website is only expanding. So what we do -- and we're going to keep the website up maybe even permanently, but we're going to continue to have the team in Human Resources working to get people placed. So we're obviously going to try to minimize the impact. Now, the cuts that we're making this year, the analyzed savings we're hoping will come to about $80 to $90 million a year. And if that is the savings we realize next year once we've analyzed the savings and the Governor provides the same level of funding increases that he's provided in past years, then we'll be close to balancing the budget next year. But that does not get us beyond next year, because while a 184 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. lot of what we're doing this year with these cuts is, in effect, not only making these cuts early so we can finance last year's obligations but also cutting the base so we can, in effect, balance next year's budget, the Mayor is quite right the District needs to finalize its five-year plan, because we need to look at the five-year obligations of the School District as we debate this issue as to what the School District needs to continue to move reform forward. We're not done with our five-year plan and we won't be probably until late January, because you can't complete a five-year plan when you haven't made any final decisions on balancing the current year budget. But as you know, in January we begin our budget deliberations in-house. In January, we begin to get a sense of what Harrisburg is going to provide us. In January, we'll have a clear idea of what's going to be available at the 185 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. federal level in Title I. So we will be completing our five-year financial plan shortly, and when we come before City Council with next year's budget proposal, we will not only obviously be presenting next year's budget but we'll also be presenting our five-year plan. Obviously we hope to get the Mayor's office and the interested parties our five-year plan sooner, but we've got to complete the work on this year's budget before we finalize the five-year plan. And while I'm confident with the cuts that we're doing this year that it's going to put us in a good situation to maintain the status quo; in other words, to maintain the existing reforms that we put in place, the out years are a concern and there is a concern about what we're going to need to secure in order to take school reform to the next level. So I just want to point that out. But there's certainly no 25 intent not to provide information. It's 186 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. just we don't have the five-year plan completed yet. I do just want to summarize a number of things, and then I want to talk about -- and in passing, I want to make reference -- and, Madam Chairwoman, with your permission, I'll certainly make my comments on the Youth Collaborative and the truancy initiative, too, so we can cover that. I just want to give you a perspective on what the District has been able to accomplish over the last few years, and this has always been articulated in the Vision 2008. We now have 3,000 more kids in early childhood programs than we ever had before. All of the early childhood programs have been standardized under the auspices of Dr. Martinez and the United Way, early literacy, standardized curriculum, instructional models. We're not where we should be. There are still thousands of additional 187 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. children we need to put into early childhood programs, but without a significant increase in funding, we've been able to serve more children in quality programs.
And let me point out that this does not include the 500 pregnant teens that are in our ELECT Program or our Cradle to the Classroom Program or the families that we're reaching through the HOME Program. As Sandra has pointed out, over the last three years, we've standardized the curriculum. We've established a managed instructional program and we have literally replaced every textbook in this system, pre-K all the way through 12th grade. There is no debate that we have one of the better managed instructional programs in the country, our data-driven instructional programs, the alignment of our curriculum and instructional models to the state standards, and I think it's reflected in the test scores. There's not a large urban 188 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. district in this country that has shown the growth in test scores relative to their state scores that we've experienced. And let me point out that in 2002, we only had 28 schools making AYP. We have 166 schools making Adequate Yearly Progress, the No Child Left Behind standard. It's only half our schools, but in 2002, we had eight percent of our schools making Adequate Yearly Progress. So that reflects the fact that I think we've been taking care of business and we've been showing a lot of success. When we came in in 2002, we said the middle school system didn't work and we needed to reorganize the District. The District today is predominantly a K-to-8, 9-to-12 district. I think we've got about 14, 15 middle schools remaining. We used to have 44. And you're seeing it in the academic performance of middle-grade children and you're also seeing it in the behavioral support. 189 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Sixth graders were our most violent grade. In 2002, we had 136 teacher assaults among 6th graders. It was the most violent grade and it was the least productive grade academically. No 7 more, and I think it's because the K-to-5's have been adding 6th grade and 7th grade and 8th grade and we've significantly downsized the schools. But the School District has been reorganized into a K-to-8, 9-to-12 system. We also said as part of the reorganization our schools needed to get smaller. Well, today we have 36 small high schools. Today the average size of our high schools are a thousand kids. It used to be 1,700. And by '08, it will be 800 kids. Today half of our schools have fewer than 500 kids. And we have school choice. There are 84 high schools in this District. There used to be 42. There's a map that I put in, I believe, your left-hand packet. It shows the District's small high schools 190 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. geographically distributed. Incidentally, it doesn't include some of the new high schools that we brought online this year. It shows all the high school choices, all 84, charter, select enrollment magnet, general enrollment schools. Again, 84 school choices. So if you look at those two color charts, it really drives home the point of what's available. School climate, serious incident reports are down 11 percent this year and last year they were down 14 percent. We're having success in the schools. Our school-based community policing, the cameras, the school-based police, our partnering with faith-based organizations is beginning to -- the school climates of the individual schools are changing. Olney and Kensington, which used to be nightmare schools, are now relatively peaceful schools. When that child was shot on his way to Olney, he ran to the school for protection. He 191 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. didn't run away from the school, I might add. We have a 24-hour zero tolerance policy. The criticism of the alternative school providers aside, we do have seven alternative schools, and we do not expel to the street. We do expel to alternative schools, to alternative placements.
So we have made an attempt to provide alternatives to students who because of serious offenses need to be put in other learning environments, need to be taken out of the general school population and put in special population. I think all these alternative school providers need to be scrutinized and they need to be held to certain performance standards, as we do and as we will continue to do, whether it's CEP or not. 7 billion capital plan, and our capital plan is online, and you can look at projects done, you can look at projects in the planning stage, 192 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you can look at projects that we're currently negotiating contracts on. And as I mentioned, by the end of this year, with the exception of two schools, we will have either broken ground or contracted to begin construction once the permitting process has run its course on all the things promised, on all the things promised in the original capital plan. But I will tell you, the capital plan only addresses about one-third of our need. If you look at enrichment, there's another map here that identifies the accelerated learning schools. K-to-8 schools were reporting accelerated middle grade programs. In effect, we're magnetizing those neighborhood schools. We've restored AP honors and advanced placement to all of our high schools. Five of our high schools have international baccalaureate programs. We're, in effect, magnetizing the schools. 193 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. So, again, this District literally had no high school AP honors or advanced placement, and other than the little gifted program, which was only reflected in a number of schools, most of the schools had no gifted and accelerated at all. We need to do more, but I just want to point out efforts that we have taken to expand accelerated and gifted and to put accelerated and gifted into as many of our schools as possible. On the enrichment side, we have a thousand more clubs than we had five years ago. We have almost 300 additional high school sports teams as we had four years ago, and you've seen the gym renovations and the super sites that we've created. Today we had a press conference. The reason I was a little late was, we had a press conference. The Archdiocese is joining the PIAA and is joining our division, Division 12. So now the Division 12 is going to be 194 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Philadelphia public and Catholic schools, and that's unprecedented to have that type of -- and why? Because we're not afraid of competition and because I think it's going to restore old rivalries and it's going to make our programs even more competitive. We've had a 200 percent increase in the number of scholarships that our high school athletes have gotten just through their exposure through the PIAA literally. So even on the enrichment side, the restoration of music and art, while slow, we certainly have done a stellar job providing music equipment and music materials. I'm not suggesting that we're anywhere near where we should be, but I'm mentioning that because you have to understand what you've gotten for that deficit. We've hit the wall, but we've accomplished a lot as we moved toward that wall. I do want to point out that had it not been for the City Council's 195 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. efforts in earmarking the sports facility fund bond proceeds, we would not have renovated and replaced our materials. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown and the entire City Council has been very, very instrumental in that. So, again, these are things that have been going on since 2002. And, finally, on the parental outreach, we now have 180 Home and School Councils. One hundred twenty of our schools, I believe, have parent help desks. We have three parent leadership academies.
To help make the budget more transparent, we're in the process of creating a Parent and Community Budget Advisory Committee that's going to have complete access to all of our budget documents and who are going to shadow us in the coming months as we begin to deliberate the budget and will host a whole series of evening forums as the budget is debated and discussed. So in 196 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. addition to the Budget Oversight Committee that the School Reform Commission has created, it's also our desire to create a public committee out there that can review and scrutinize our efforts. So, again, our efforts to institutionalize our parental involvement and a role for parents in the schools I think is certainly unprecedented. And someone asked about the TANF. Councilwoman Blackwell, we have close to 400 TANF volunteers in our schools, not to mention, I believe, over 250 parents working through community-based organizations as part of our school-based community policing initiative and, of course, the hundred parent truant officers, hopefully soon to be augmented by another 300 to 400 officers when the Council approves the Mayor's initiative. So, again, I think we've really attempted to institutionalize a role for 197 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. our parents, and we're going to continue to institutionalize that role. But while a lot has been done, a lot needs to be done, and I want to talk about the things that we need to do that are going to require additional funding. I think there are going to be specific needs for additional monies that will emerge through our five-year plan. To sustain and expand upon our existing initiatives will require more resources, and we hope to identify what those dollars are and to reach a consensus with the City and other regulatory or oversight agencies hopefully in the coming months so there at least, as the Mayor pointed out, is a consensus on what it's going to take us to go the next five years. This Vision 2008 was a five-year vision. Now what's the next? What are we going to do in the next five years? And it's interesting because over the next five years, the next five years 198 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. will end about the time that the No Child Left Behind 100 percent standard -- I believe it's 1214 -- is in effect. So clearly, we're going to need to be even more ambitious than we've currently been. But let me talk to you about the things that we absolutely need to do that we don't have funding for and that we need funding for, just not from the City but also from the State and hopefully additional Title I money from the new Congress. The first thing and probably the most important thing is, we need money for class size reduction. 3 students. That doesn't mean every class has kids. 22 Some schools have much more Title I than 23 other schools. So some schools, they 24 have class size reduction. Other schools 25 don't have class size reduction. But to 199 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. get all of the classrooms below 25, at 21, 22, will require upwards to about 800 additional teachers, and we're going to preliminary cost out what it would cost for us to finance 800 additional teachers. You're probably talking something in the neighborhood of $60 to $70 million, but that would allow us to address that issue. And not something that we would need to do one year, but something we could phase in over three or over a four-year period. But we're not going to make any headway on class size reduction without additional resources. In fact, we've been struggling just to hold the gains that we've made in the past few years. And as you know, this past year, despite the addition of 119 teachers into the budget at the close of the last SRC budget deliberations, we did have to level.
Thus, we did have to take 62 teachers out of existing schools and move them to other schools that had overcrowding, and that was something that 200 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. we would not want to do again, not want to repeat. But it is going to cost more money to do class size reduction. And it's just not a City issue. It's a State issue. There are many states out there, like California and others, where they've passed propositions to earmark state money and to mandate that the state fund class size reduction. The decision regarding adequate funding for the schools in New York State has ordered the Legislature to appropriate billions in additional money, not only statewide but I think $2 billion in additional money to New York alone. So it is going to take more resources. The second most important area is early childhood education. We have got to get all of our children in some sort of early childhood educational programs, and that means we have got to move towards -- in New York they're moving towards universal pre-school for 201 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. four-year-olds. It's half day, but for four-year-olds. So every single four-year-old is in pre-school at least half a day. But we've got to expand our zero to three program. Someone told me there's close to 300 teen pregnancies a year in the Philadelphia area. And, again, teen pregnancies constitute -- the dropout rate among pregnant teens is 70 percent. I believe it's the second highest dropout rate. Incarcerated youth is the highest, I believe closer to 90 percent. Well, what about the children of the 70 percent who drop out, the pregnant teens? I bet their dropout rate may even be higher. So taking our early childhood programs to scale is absolutely critical. The Governor, every year he's provided incremental increases for early childhood education. But we have thousands of children that we need to reach. We have a program right now 202 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. called Cradle to the Classroom. We try to identify all the pregnant teens, assign the pregnant teens a parent advocate, train the pregnant teens, get the pregnant teen back into high school, get the baby pre-school, daycare, wrap-around services, et cetera. And we know based on research that teens who have successfully gone through this program are four times more likely to graduate, and children who have gone through this program, particularly the early childhood component, are close to grade level by the time they reach third grade, no gap. But the biggest challenge we have in the program is not hiring enough parent advocates to work with the pregnant teens. It's getting enough daycare slots so that the pregnant teens can get back into school, because there aren't enough slots available for the babies of all the pregnant teens. So we're impeded by our ability to get 203 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. pregnant teens back into school because there's nobody to care for the baby. So that's something that we're going to need help on, and that's something that we're costing out through the United Way and through their efforts, because they've made early childhood education a number one priority, and we hope in the next few months before we come before the budget and after we've seen what the Governor has proposed, that I've asked my staff to put a dollar amount on universal early childhood education, including zero to three. What we may be forced to do on the zero to three pregnant teens is to create a virtual school program so the pregnant teens can work to get their high school diploma at home while they're caring for their babies because of the lack of an early childhood program. So we've talked to June Brown and a number of the virtual school providers, because we're desperate to get the kids back into 204 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. a high school program. The third most critical area is to fund our dropout prevention initiatives.
Now, we were asked to join the Youth Collaborative a couple years ago to do a comprehensive review of the Philadelphia dropout problems. I think we're one of only two districts to be bold enough to do that. Most school districts in most states underestimate their dropout numbers and they have a tendency to try to conceal the problem. We wanted to look at the problem. So we went back and we looked at dropouts. We looked at children who had entered the system 1996 to 2001, where were they now and where are they now. And the Youth Collaborative will detail the findings in that study. But the point of this exercise was to identify the problem and identify who the highest risk children are and to tailor programs to help those children. I think your overall reforms 205 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. are reorganization, our early childhood, our expanded, our high school reforms, our standardized curriculum instructional models. I think they'll help close the gap over the long term. I think they'll help improve student achievement. But you know what? We've got kids at risk today and tomorrow and the next year and the following year. We need special interventions. We need to bring the Cradle to the Classroom programs to scale for our pregnant teens. We need to dramatically expand our transition schools. A large percentage of our kids who drop out are overage underachievers. Kids don't have to start school in Pennsylvania until they're eight years old. Prior to this, close to 3,000 kids every year would start a school a year or two late. And let me tell you, it's not like they were home schooled. That's been cut in half by about 50 percent because of our expanded early childhood programs. We get the 206 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. kids early. The parents, great. The kids are on track. But we still had 1,400, 1,500 kids start school a year or two late, and where do you stick an 8th grader? In kindergarten? First grade? Second grade? Ninety percent of our disruptive incidents are academically failing kids. Sixty percent of our disruptive incidents are caused by overage kids, overage underachievers. So as part of the Youth Collaborative, we're going to push for the expansion of our transition schools. These are small schools that take 15, 16-year-old middle grade schools and 17-year-old freshmen who are academically failing and they put them in small self-contained schools. We have four of those schools, and they're having great results. New York copied our program, but with the resources they have, they just decided that they're going to have 20. If we could add five or six or seven 207 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. additional schools, we could get so many kids off the street and we could get the overage underachieving kids out of the general high school, thus providing the general high school with relief. The point that I'm trying to make is, there are things in this Youth Collaborative study. There are programs to be brought to scale. This is a unique study, and not only does it comprehensively identify the problem but it does even more than that. It talks about real solutions, solutions that have piloted, solutions that have shown success. It's like you see the cure. Now the question is can you manufacture the drug that can cure the disease. You see? So those things need to be brought to scale, too. But I'm going to continue to do pilot. I'm going to continue to run my own airport with all the little pilots I have until we get enough money to bring those type of 208 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. programs to scale. The fourth thing is classroom modernization. Now, I've been talking both publicly, collectively, individually all about classroom modernization. We talk about the next phase of the capital plan.
Well, $500 to $600 million, a number I have put out for the better part of a year and a half, would enable us to modernize every classroom, SMART Boards, Whiteboards, laptop computers, furniture, a furniture buildout to the classrooms. So every ugly high-rise building would at least have state-of-the-art modernized classrooms that would educate kids in an environment equal, if not superior, to the suburbs. Because when you have a great managed instructional program and you add classroom technology to it, it allows you to take curriculum and instruction to the next level. And that's achievable, because a lot of the money that would be needed to do that is money that you could, in effect, bond. 209 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. You could raise the proceeds from bonding. We worked with Senator Fumo to get an earmark of $5 million in casino revenue specifically to purchase laptops and SMART Boards from the schools. And then, finally, we need a fifth phase of the capital plan. We're going to be running out of money shortly, and we at least need a second phase. And what do we need to do in the second phase? We need to fund those things that are going to help us enhance our education reforms. The first thing is, we need about $150 million a year in capital just to maintain our buildings. I mean, because of years of deferred 19 maintenance, Bache is collapsing. I have 20 to find a new location for Bache. Wanamaker is vacant. I have to find a new location for Wanamaker. Now Ada Lewis because it was never renovated, it was never maintained, that building can't be repaired. Overbrook cannot be 210 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. repaired. I've got to find a replacement building for that. We need 150 million in capital just to maintain our buildings. Everybody looks at the School District's capital plan without realizing three-fourths of the money is just going into maintenance. It's just not going into new buildings and replacement buildings. But we also have K-to-5 schools and small high schools that are in need of annexes, small annexes, $5 million a piece that can provide gyms, cafeterias, multi-purpose rooms. We need to do the tuckpointing and window replacements in our schools that will keep our schools from further deteriorating, and obviously we need to do the classroom modernization. Just a small expansion of the capital plan by a billion dollars or so would allow us to have another three years of catch-up maintenance. It will 211 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. allow us to do window replacements. It will allow us to do our window replacements and tuckpointing. Go look at Strawberry Mansion with the window replacements and tuckpointing on the Strawberry Mansion High School side of that campus. And it would allow us to build at least annexes in schools that 10 are K-to-8 and small high schools that 11 need the gyms and the auditoriums. 12 So we in the next couple of 13 months are going to be costing these 14 things out and we're going to be 15 presenting them not only through the 16 Mayor's task force on school reform, but 17 obviously this is going to be part of our 18 legislative agenda for Harrisburg as well 19 as Washington, and obviously it's going 20 to be part of our budget presentation for you. And many of these things I've talked about, like classroom modernization and the expanded capital plan and many of the youth collaboratives, are not new things. 212 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. These are things that I've talked about in the past, sometimes individually and collectively, as we move forward. So, again, I think the District has accomplished a lot since 2002, and it's accomplished a lot because of the support that we've received from our Mayor and the support that we've received from the Legislature.
I don't know where we'd be without the leadership of John Perzel or, for that matter, without the leadership of Dwight Evans and Tony Williams and others in the Senate or Vince Fumo in the Senate and the things -- Dwight Evans is in the House, I might add, and the legislative officials who have really stepped up to the plate to support us, and likewise to City Council, because I have never lost sight of the fact that when the 2002 Reform Act was passed, the City also provided the School District with an additional $40 million in funds to help us not only close the gap but also give us the 213 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. flexibility to move forward. But we're at a crossroads. The first kind of five-year school reform cycle is over, and now we need to decide what it's going to take us to not only sustain those reforms, but to go to the next level. And I'm not afraid to ask for money. I may need to ask for it more publicly than I have in the past, because as you know, my approach has always been to privately lobby and privately complain and privately try to wear people out, while publicly you maintain a certain decorum. But we've accomplished a lot. I think the District is poised to go to the next level, but going to the next level is going to require a much greater investment, not only on the part of the State but also on the part of the City. I also want to clarify one thing, too, because I lobby the Legislature all the time on school funding. I have just refused to chastise 214 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the Legislature. One of the things I learned is, you never criticize people who can give you money, because they can always say no. And even if they haven't given it to you in the past, it will make them even more entrenched. And I'll tell you, my approach has always been with Harrisburg to go to Harrisburg and to ask Harrisburg for things that we deserve. And I believe we deserve more money. No 12 one should ever misrepresent me saying we don't deserve it. I've made a case. It's hard to argue with 166 schools making AYP, some of the biggest increases in test scores, all the things we've been able to do with the limited resources we have. But my approach is also to ask for things that other school districts are asking for. Because you know as well as I do, there are individuals who do not support public schools and there are individuals who do not support public schools in Philadelphia, who will use 215 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Philadelphia as an excuse to oppose funding for a public education. So our approach is to be part of a coalition rather than taking the lead. When I've met with many of the school activists, the school reformers who have been litigating and challenging the Legislature for years on school funding issues, they always tell me that there are other districts in the State that are poor and struggling and they need to be at the forefront, and we need to be part of them. We need to be in solidarity. So when we hit this budget crunch, the absolute last thing that I was going to do was going to go to the Legislature and say, We have a budget crisis, give us more money. I mean, first of all, we wouldn't have gotten any, and, secondly, that would have just emboldened those who didn't want to give Philadelphia any money in the first place not to provide additional funding. 216 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. So the bottom line is, we'll be ready to go to Harrisburg, as we always have, as part of a much broader coalition. And we have a willing Governor and hopefully a supportive Legislature. So hopefully the Legislature will help us -- if we do as well over the next four years as we've done over the previous four years, it's going to put us in better shape.
But we hope to cost out in the coming months as we finalize our five-year plan the specific things that we need to do to take this District to the next level, and then obviously once we agree on the numbers, figure out a strategy on how we're going to financially do what we need to do in order to get there. Madam Chairman, I want to thank you for your indulgence, and we will take any questions you have.
Thank you very much. After you outlined our needs, I had 20 questions. I almost 217 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. don't want to ask any. We'll give everybody an opportunity to ask a few questions. I'll ask one. What about the issue that we've been concerned about of District requirements versus schools? They're afraid that when it comes down to it, schools still have to decide whether they keep music teachers and art teachers and librarians and all of that in their own allotment versus the money they get from the District.
Let me respond to that by saying -- first of all, let me make a comment about teacher recruitment and retention. Right now I think -- and Tomas will verify that number. How many vacancies do we have in the District right now?
I mean, this District always would run 160, 170 vacancies. We've been running about 50. 218 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. We actually sat on some vacancies and we had them filled by full-time substitutes because we had the bouncing, but after the bouncing is done, we'll have under 6 vacancies in a district with 10,400 7 classroom teachers. 8 I also want to point out 9 that -- and this is because of the 10 efforts of Sandra Dungee Glenn and the 11 Campaign for Human Capital. I mean, we 12 literally -- our retention rate among new 13 teachers is 93 percent. It used to be 72 14 percent. Our certification rate is at a 15 highest level ever. You know, 750 16 teachers have left this system because of 17 their failure to become highly qualified 18 under the No Child Left Behind standard, 19 yet we have virtually no vacancies. 20 So clearly, we've made a lot of gains. And let me point out that as we speak, we have over 1,200 university interns working in our schools, student teachers, student counselors, students doing their internships and things like 219 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that. So what we've attempted to do is -- I think we've done a good job recruiting teachers, and we have many more applicants than we have spots for, but the problem with some of these supplemental positions is, quite frankly, we don't have the money to provide a librarian for every elementary school, to provide a freed-up music teacher for every elementary school, freed-up art teacher for every elementary school. Schools get an allocation, but sometimes it's not a full teacher allocation. They get an allocation and then they have to make a decision as to whether or not they're going to fund that position partly out of what we give them and partly out of what they have in Title I or use that money to hire another teacher. So some schools, Madam Chairman, do have to make the choice. They shouldn't have to make the choice. 220 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. In an ideal world, they should not have to make the choice between a music teacher and an art teacher and a third grade teacher, but because of our desire to reduce class size at the elementary school, many schools have had to make that choice. If we fund a District-wide class size reduction initiative with a goal towards getting all of our classrooms down below 25, so you have 22, kids in the classroom, this is what's 14 going to happen. Schools with a lot of 15 Title I money are going to have 17, 18 16 kids in primary grade classrooms, and a 17 lot of schools are going to -- more 18 schools, if not most of the schools, are 19 going to be able to hire that full-time 20 art and full-time music teacher, you see, 21 but not without that additional 22 commitment will we be able to address 23 that issue.
Madam Chair, if I may, I'd like to add something to 221 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that. There is another thing that we are taking a look at, the Commission, and we've asked Mr. Vallas and his team to take a look at it as well that's a different approach, if you would, to funding and providing the dollars to schools, called weighted student funding, and what that does is, the District would be very clear about the outcomes and some of the standardized things like the curriculum that we would have in place, but it would provide more flexibility to schools to determine on a school-by-school basis what their priorities might be, whether they would choose to have a music teacher and an art teacher and a librarian versus some other kinds of programs. They could look at their school needs, and it would be not as much cookie cutter from the central office. There would be more flexibility allowed to the schools. It's been tried in some other districts, like San Francisco. I believe 222 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Cincinnati is taking a look at it. And what it does, it also helps to deal with the issue of equity, where you have schools are funded depending on the kinds of children they have to educate. So it provides some flexibility around the dollars that would come in, if you had more children who are English language learners, more children who may be low income. And so the dollars, in other words, follow the child more closely. And those issues that you raised about schools making choices, it helps to ameliorate some of that. It's an issue in the very early stages for this District to take a look at, but it's something that we think might give more flexibility to schools and supports for that very reason.
There's a lot of national interest in this, too. There's a national coalition that has formed, people from the right and the left and the center, or whatever, all looking at 223 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. this issue. And at the state level, I believe there was a resolution to study the whole equity thing. So this thing has some momentum behind it, and Sandra has asked us to meet with some of the national experts on this and to perhaps consider identifying schools or clusters of schools where we can pilot this initiative. But it's the next trend, because right now, I mean, the money doesn't really follow the kids. The positions follow the kids, but the positions have no relationship to the actual dollars. And this has been tried and it's shown a lot of success in school districts like San Francisco, I think Cincinnati to a lesser extent. So we're looking at this. And obviously if we have a good funding year next year, this would be something well worth trying.
With regard to counselors and nurses, do we use the other agencies, the Planned 224 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Parenthood agencies, the Women Against Rape agencies, who can really provide the kind of one-on-one support and counseling that kids need?
Yeah. You know, there's a lot more outreach than people realize, or I should say coordination among agencies than people realize. The problem, though, is, many of these agencies are themselves financially strapped. I mean, Human Resources is overwhelmed with the challenges that they face. But let me give you an example of the way we cooperate. Public Safety, we have our Public Safety Task Force. We work very closely with the Police Department, the courts and other intervention agencies, and I think the school-based -- and with community-based organizations, and I think the reason that we've had a lot of success in the reduction of incidents is because of the school-based community policing approach 225 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and the cooperation we've had. Ever since the Mayor created the Task Force, you remember, two years ago after the shooting outside Strawberry Mansion, I mean, I think the cooperation has never been greater, and I think we're seeing the success. We've been able to have success in the schools without changing the definition of what is an arrestable offense. In other words, we still have probably the toughest reporting requirements around when you look at cities like New York and LA where you literally -- I mean, the criteria for determining a persistently dangerous school is almost impossible to achieve. Also, when it comes to Human Resources, we, I believe -- and somebody can give me this number -- we've been coordinating with City agencies to create behavioral support teams in our individual schools, with DHS and others, so that we have using their resources and 226 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. our own, we've converted these TSS positions and some of these social service support positions into, in effect, behavioral support specialists, individuals with Master's degrees, individuals who are experts in child psychology and child counseling and things like that, and those teams are now operational in, I think -- can somebody give me the school number now? It's more than -- it was 29 the first year. I think it may be as many as 40, 45 schools. But if you look at the proposals in the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Behavioral Health, youth behavioral health, there are a number of recommendations to enhance that level of cooperation and coordination that do not necessarily require additional funding as much as improve coordination so that we can have a better delivery of social services and of intervention services at the local level. We can do a lot better, but under the Mayor's leadership, we're 227 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. doing a heck of a lot more than was ever done before prior to his Administration.
Thank you very much. I'll defer to my colleagues. President Verna.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Before I start my line of questioning, one of my constituents, Al Brown, was here earlier. He is the Senior Vice-Chair of the Point Breeze Arts Center. I asked him if he would leave his testimony, we would make it part of the record. And at this point, Mr. Vallas, good afternoon.
I understand that the high school dropout, the rates have become a national crisis. It's not just here in Philadelphia. Can tell us what you believe are the main reasons for our school children dropping 228 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. out of school?
You know, I'll tell you -- and I have a summary sheet that summarizes my talking points on the Youth Collaborative, and it really answers that question in a little more detail, and I'll circulate a copy. I don't know if it's in your packet. My cheat sheet, I'll give you my cheat sheet. I think the biggest problem -- there are a number of problems. I think probably the biggest problem is, the majority of our children in this District are being raised by single parents, and I would submit to you that a large number of them are high school dropouts themselves. And I think what we have here is, there's this expectation that high school graduation isn't something that's expected and that college is something that's beyond their reach. One of the things that drove Chaka Fattah to push the CORE Philly 229 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Scholar initiative was to, in effect, tell children that when they graduated, if they stayed on and graduated high school, college would be financially affordable to them. We would pay for their first year of college, to overcome this perception that college somehow is not affordability and beyond their reach. And I'll tell you, it's interesting, because during the period that the CORE Philly Scholar program has been in effect, our graduation rate has actually risen. According to the State, it's risen higher than the Youth Collaborative report would indicate. I trust the Youth Collaborative report. I've always felt that -- and that states as a whole have a tendency to inflate graduation numbers. But if you look at -- I firmly believe that. Also, if you look at Time Magazine's special edition called "Dropout Nation," they focused on the national dropout phenomena, and they concluded that children are dropping out 230 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. for a variety of reasons. Number one, as I pointed out, college is just not part of the expectation, and if you don't think you're going to college, you're less inclined to stay in high school since high school is a prerequisite to college. High school is boring. They can't relate. They don't understand the relevancy of high school. And high school is not financially affordable. I think they cited in some circles either the number one or two reason was this perception that high school was not in their future because it was not financially affordable. So I think these things are reasons why children drop out. Now, what compounds those -- and this is just not inner city. This is national. What compounds this problem are other challenges that we face; for example, the late start. I will tell you this: Children starting school at seven 231 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and eight years old is almost fatal from an academic standpoint. When we get kids in early childhood programs and after those early childhood programs when we get them into school on time, we compensate for a lot of things that they don't receive the support on. We can work with the mother and provide the mother with the help so that the mother can manage the basic parenting skills. We can make sure the child's nutritional needs are addressed. We can stimulate the child so that the child, when the child starts kindergarten, the child is ready for kindergarten. So the lack of early intervention, compounded by the fact that many children are being raised by single parents, very inexperienced single parents, that challenge can sometimes be overwhelming, and I think that challenge complicates the problems or combines with the other reasons that I cited, the reasons in the Time Magazine article, to 232 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. make things even more complicated. When you look at the three categories of dropouts -- and the Youth Collaborative will talk about this in greater detail -- I think children who are incarcerated drop out at a 90 percent rate. Pregnant teens drop out at a 70 percent rate.
I don't know what the statistic was of the overage underachievers. But clearly, those were kind of three categories of the highest number of dropouts. So what we're trying to do, Councilwoman Verna, is, we're trying to identify interventions that we can add to our reforms in addition to the kind of comprehensive reforms that we've laid out that help us address this issue. The Cradle to the Classroom Program, if a pregnant teen has a baby, make sure that that pregnant teen is counseled and goes through parent training, make sure that baby is put in daycare and pre-school. You do that for one or two generations 233 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and you're going to do more to break the cycle of poverty and of academic underachievement than anything. Overage underachieving students, the kids that are in 6th, 7th and 8th grade now, when we get those kids of that middle school grade setting -- in 2002, my first year here, we had 3,000 students in middle grades who had reached the age of before the end of the 12 school year, including 400 6th graders. 13 Now, you don't think that's a disruptive 14 influence, I say rhetorically? If you 15 can move the overage underachiever kids 16 out into these transition schools, into these MGAP classrooms, into these transition middle schools and high schools, you will not only keep them in school and then you provide them with wrap-around services, more intensive instruction, things like that, but you'll get the potentially disruptive kids out of the general school and thus relieve the general school of a critical burden. 234 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. And then, finally -- and I've been talking to every mayoral candidate and every elected official I can ad nauseam about this, and this is building on the CORE Philly Scholar initiative that Chaka Fattah has pushed forward. I said if we could tell all of our high school kids that if they get to their senior year, if they got to their senior year, we would provide them with not only a scholarship, regardless of their grades, but we would provide them with an opportunity their senior year to actually enroll in college and take college courses before they graduated -- and we have a dual enrollment program now -- but we would also give them a job, a college job. We would give them a job, an internship, a paid internship. So if we told the kids, You get through your junior year and we'll get you a summer job, we'll get you an after-school job, you'll be able to take college courses before you've graduated, 235 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and when you graduate, you'll get a first year scholarship, let me tell you, you start telling the 6th graders that now and those 6th graders -- when I talk to 6th graders about scholarships and I talk to 6th graders about high school choices, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, you can hear a pin drop, because too many of our children don't think college is financially affordable. Too many of our children are searching for some work to generate some income. Too many of our children don't believe they have choices. So when you provide those incentives, then you can begin to create a college culture, because then you can begin to tell the young kids in primary grades and middle grades that this is something there for you, it's yours, you can have it if you get this far. So those are some of the reasons I think for the high dropout rate. It's also some of the -- I don't want to call them stop gap, but some of 236 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the interventions that I think we need to initiate to address the population of potential dropouts that we have right here deciding whether or not they're going to continue to come to school or they're going to hit the streets.
Whoa. Thank you. I guess I was distracted a couple times when you were testifying. Did you indicate the current dropout rate at the School District and how it's computed?
I'm going to let the Youth Collaborative do that. They can go through their methodology, because there's like three or four different ways --
I know. Every jurisdiction seems to compute in a different way.
Obviously we track the kids once they leave 8th grade, have they dropped out. And we're just not looking at a one-year rate as much as 237 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. we're looking at the overall rate, which is why we look at graduation rates and dropout rates. But you're right, because like New York, New York State, the city says their graduation rate is 58 percent. The State says it's 56 percent. And Educational Week, when they did their study, said it was 39 percent. So they're all over the board. Our graduation rate, according to the State, was, I don't know, 66, 68 percent, but yet the Youth Collaborative identified the graduation rate, I think, at 47 -- 57 or 58 percent. I don't know what the statistic was. But the reason we embarked upon this study is, we wanted to really develop the best methodology for computing the dropout rate and then to identify the categories of dropouts and determine the unique characteristics of these dropouts so that we can do earlier intervention once we identify children 238 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. who are likely to drop out and tailor our programs to meet the specific needs of the dropout, be they the pregnant teens or, for that matter, the incarcerated youth or the overage underachievers.
Mr. Vallas, can you tell me how we compare to the national average of dropouts?
Well, you know what's funny, Education Week, when they did their study, our graduation rate -- and they didn't do dropout rate. They did graduation rate, because a lot of kids may drop out but then they get back into school and they graduate. And the graduation rate put us at the mid 50's, and their data was 2002-2003. And we were, incidentally, I think first or second among the old industrial city schools. There are 50 schools that they listed, but like New York, LA, I think we were like first or second, and we were right in the middle 239 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. of the 50 largest school districts, but that includes like Raleigh and some of these others. In the Youth Collaborative study, they had a little index where they took select schools, the traditional cities, let's call them, and I think we were ranked either second or third when it came to graduation rates. So at least according to these studies, we're average or above average. But bragging about a 55 or 58 percent graduation rate is like bragging that you're in the first-class section on the Titanic. The bottom line is, the ship is still going down and you don't have a life jacket. So we probably compare favorably, but let me tell you, the numbers are dismal across the board. So I'm not heartened by the fact that our graduation rate may be higher than New York's, Detroit's or even Chicago's or LA, because the graduation rate is just 240 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. unacceptably low.
Mr. Vallas, what are the vocational training programs that the District offers its students? Do you believe that if we strengthen these programs, more students would stay in school and be better prepared --
-- to enter the workforce? You know, reading the report from Johns Hopkins, one of the reasons that children leave is because they're bored. Maybe if we put them into vocational training programs, it will help them and certainly make it much easier to join the workforce.
Right. Well, one of the proposals in our partnership with the Youth Collaborative initiative is to dramatically expand dual enrollment programs, and when I talk about dual enrollment, I am talking about not only dual enrollment in colleges, 241 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. universities, dual enrollment so children can, in effect, be enrolled in job training, job preparation, work skill programs, vocational ed programs while they're in high school. Because, look, the old vocational educational programs in this District, which, incidentally, were not maintained for 10, years, I 10 mean, many of these programs were 11 obsolete and irrelevant, and what we've 12 been doing is, we've been working to, in 13 effect, clean up those programs and get 14 those programs certified again, because I 15 think only six or seven of our programs were certified and now I think 60 or 65 are, just to basically upgrade the programs that --
I can give you a list. I can have Lori Analoff put together a list of those previously certified and those certified now.
And 242 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. what are your plans for the future?
Well, our plans are threefold. One is to upgrade and improve the physical condition in the programs that we have, get them certified and, in effect, do the equipment upgrades that we need to have. That's number one. Number two, to expand our off-campus enrollment program. In other words, they are from Community College to DeVry to private providers, who do a heck of a better job in job training and workforce development and workforce preparation than we do. So, I mean, we have 80 colleges, universities, institutions of higher learning, many of them with work study programs, not to mention -- and those, incidentally, include -- higher ed also includes the vocational technical training programs. Manor College, for example, we have 75 kids at Manor College who attend Northeast High School in the afternoons. They're taking courses at Manor College. 243 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. So the second approach is to go out and partner and to buy space in those programs. The third approach has been to establish these academies, and by "academies," I'm talking about the Sunoco Academy, establish academies with -- Sunoco, for example, has an academy program in Bache. Lockheed Martin has an academy program in three high schools. The Exelon and one of the other providers are looking at establishing an academy program in a couple of our high schools. A number of the hospitals have healthcare academy programs in one of our high schools. St. Christopher has a healthcare academy in Olney. So the whole idea is to bring in the employer, design a program in the school that matches the employer's needs, do the buildout, whatever, then they provide the internships, the apprenticeships so, in effect, we can alter or modify our electives to prepare 244 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. them for those jobs. So, once again, threefold: Upgrade what we have physically, number one; number two, dual enrollment; and then, number three, establish academy programs.
How many students would you say are in these programs?
I'd be curious to know how many of these so-called academies we have and how many students --
-- we have attending. Can you tell us, please, how does the District interact with the City's Health Department, the Department of Human Services and many other agencies in an effort to keep students in school? What additional assistance and/or 245 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. coordination with these agencies would be helpful?
Do you want me to provide a written response or I can bring someone up to -- I mean, we can spend an hour talking about that.
I'll be more than happy, if I can ask my staff. Brenda Taylor, who is our Director of Specialized Education Services, she interfaces with all the social service support agencies, and we'll be more than happy on a very short memo to summarize the cooperation and partnerships that we have them. Okay?
Thank you. I know I have a number of other questions that I would like to ask you, but I see that other Councilmembers would like to ask you some questions.
Thank 246 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you, Council President. Councilman Goode, then Councilman Savage.
Mr. Vallas, who conducted your final interview for your job?
I think we ran the gamut. We talked about closing the gap. We talked about --
Do you specifically remember anyone referring to the dropout rate within that interview?
I remember being asked about dropout rate and then dropout intervention programs. 247 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
And what did they say the dropout rate was at that point?
What was the charge given to you as potential CEO with regard to the dropout rate?
Well, I don't think there was a specific charge per the dropout rate. The dropout rate was to close the gap and to improve academic achievement. Also, the School Reform Commission set a number of goals laid out in the Declaration of Education, identifying certain goals for the District to achieve that would define us as being a high-quality school district.
My question was whether you were given a specific charge.
At the time I was hired, no. The charge was improving the graduation rate and improving test scores. There were no specific 248 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. increments.
Let's shift to academic performance. How are young black males performing in the District?
Well, I think the majority of children in this District are still underperforming in terms of they're not at proficiency, the majority of the children are.
I'll give you the specific details, but I would say about over 60 percent are not at proficiency.
Well, in the area of math, it's more than doubled. In the area of reading, I think it's improved by about 50 percent. But I can give you the 249 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. specific breakdown, disaggregated data, by test scores. For example, underprivileged children, percent of 5 the underprivileged children -- 6
My specific 7 question is, how are young black males 8 performing in the District and how has it 9 changed under your tenure? 10
And what I'm 11 saying is, there has been dramatic improvement, and I'll be more than happy to give you those specifics.
I can generalize, but I can't give you the exact specific test score performance.
Well, as I mentioned, I believe that the math scores have improved by close to 50 percent -- or I'm sorry; that math scores have dramatically -- 250 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
I'll give you the numbers. I'll get the disaggregated data for you and I'll read off the test scores.
How does the dropout rate affect measurement of high school test performance?
How does it affect the measure of high school test performance?
Do you account for dropouts at all in measuring success or failure or are dropouts just removed from the equation altogether?
So, in other words, if you've dropped out or you're 251 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. truant or just don't take the test, you're basing your success or failure based upon who actually was there and took the test?
Well, we test children who are officially enrolled. So, in other words, if a child is officially enrolled but that child is not attending school but that child is on our roster and that school does not -- and that child is not tested, then even if the school experienced improved test scores, that school can be disqualified from making AYP for having poor test turnout. But if a student drops out of a school, if a student is not attending an individual school or in a specific school district, then obviously they're not going to be tested.
So is it safe to say that if your overage underachievers, those people who are not performing, who do not feel they can perform, drop out of school, then your 252 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. high school test scores would go up?
That was a question. I wasn't asking whether you said that. I was asking, is it safe to say that if those overage underachievers, those people, in many cases young black males, do not feel that they can perform within the District and they simply drop out, that your test scores, your high school test scores, will go up?
Right. If children who are underachieving are not in school, obviously the test scores would be higher than if they were in school being tested.
So your test scores may have gone up related to those 253 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. people dropping out of the system and so you've actually not necessarily just succeeded in terms of those people who you have tested, but you've also failed to those people who dropped out?
Well, let me respond by saying your question assumes that the dropout rate has been going up, and it hasn't. Your question also assumes that -- because comparing apples to apples, if you look at the statistics, the graduation rate has actually been climbing. So one could argue that us keeping more kids in school compared to past years, previous years and previous superintendents, should have resulted in slower growth in test scores. So the bottom line here is, we can talk about what the dropout rate or the graduation rate is. The fact remains the dropout rate is not lower than it was when I came in. According to the State, it's higher in terms of the graduation rate. The dropout rate appears to have 254 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. declined. So one can argue that we are testing more kids and we're keeping more kids in school, thus that would put a downward pressure on test scores as opposed to an upward pressure, just to point that out.
I'll get back to that in a second. What correlation do you see between the current murder rate and the dropout rate?
No. I asked you a question. What correlation do you see between the current murder rate and the dropout rate? You can answer it or not answer it, but I'm not trying to blame anybody. I asked a question.
Well, I can't give you an exact correlation. I will say 255 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. this in response to your question, that the majority of children incarcerated, the majority of individuals who are in prisons are not college graduates and, for that matter, the majority have dropped out of high school. So I can't tell you that definitively.
Let me ask you a question. How many young black males and young Latino males have dropped out under your tenure?
I can't tell you off the top of my head, but I'll be more than happy to give you that.
So you probably have no idea how many of them have been killed or have killed someone either?
Well, if you're asking me that information, I can 256 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. certainly try to secure it for you.
Okay. Of the murders this year -- I think right now we may be at 384. I've asked this question to the Administration, several people. This is not something I'm just asking you.
Out of the victims and perpetrators, how many do you think were high school dropouts?
I would be very interested if you could give me that information.
I'll be more than happy to give you that. Absolutely. If we have the names of the victims, we can tell you how many -- or the victimizers, 257 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. we can tell you --
Because I've been told by the Mayor, by the Secretary of Education, by the Director of Social Services and everyone else that that information is not available, has not been provided by the School District and it can't be tracked, and I've asked everyone involved in this issue --
But the first question was, how many -- and I'm asking you now to just generalize off the top of your head -- of the 384 people who were murdered, how many do you believe were high school dropouts?
Yeah. I can't -- I will not want to guesstimate on that, 258 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. but if I had the names of those individuals, I can tell you how many were.
And I'm sure if -- I mean, it's easy to get the names, and then you go back and you track where they came from and --
I'm going to throw out a number and I'm going to guess that I'm probably going to be pretty close to it. I'm going to say 80 percent.
If 80 percent of the people who were murdered this year were high school dropouts, do you think it's actually fair to just put them into categories of overage underachievers; to suggest that their 259 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. parents were high school dropouts, therefore they're going to be high school dropouts; to suggest any of those things that you have done today and to simply say that, Well, we need to come up with different pilot programs and try a bunch of test programs? We're actually talking about a significant portion of our population, a significant portion of young adult males in the City. We're actually talking about an epidemic among young men of color. We're talking about an epidemic in terms of a high school dropout. We're talking about an epidemic in terms of failed academic performance. And not just in terms of those who you test, but particularly those who you haven't tested. So I don't accept higher test scores as meaning anything if there are people who you have not reached in this City, you cannot reach, were never given that charge and even of your own 260 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. statement saying those were not your primary goals as CEO, you were given different goals by the SRC, your goals were not to effect the dropout rate.
Yes. Read the Declaration of Education that's in your packet.
I said that the School Reform Commission set a number of goals that would define us as a district. It includes graduation rates, it includes the percentage of children going to college, it includes test scores, it includes student behavior, it includes partnership. It's in your packet. And incidentally, we've distributed these goals every year.
Did you understand specifically I'm asking about 261 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the fact that there are young black males --
I understand. I have to deal with that every day. I've been to the funerals, Councilman.
Well, you know, let's just say that we're trying to reach. But I've come before this Council every year and I've had conversations with this Council about ways that we could access additional help every year. I've had those conversations lightly publicly, and I've had those conversations more deeply privately. The bottom line is, the Youth Collaborative is bringing an initiative before this City Council and before the Legislature that they have been partnering with us on for the last two years on how to stem the dropout rate. Now, I think given the fact -- and I think the Mayor very eloquently 262 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. said it, the challenges that we face in the City cannot be just laid on -- I'm willing to take my share of the blame any time, any way. In fact, I'll take more of the blame, but the bottom line here is, we have a collective responsibility to identify those programs that work and take them to scale. You're going to have an opportunity to do that in a very specific way, Councilman. You're going to have an opportunity to decide whether or not you want to take programs to scale that will stem the dropout rate in the City, and those programs are very specific and they have specific results. And I'll be more than happy to work with you to lobby Harrisburg for that support, but that support is also going to have to come from the City Council.
So you're in your fifth year and you're coming here talking about creating new programs that will eventually go to scale.
No, no. You know 263 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. what, I've come here every year and I've had conversations with Councilmembers every year about ways that we could secure additional resources to help move this School District forward.
This is not an issue of money for me. Let me make a statement to you.
No, no, no. The implication is that I'm just showing up here now asking for this.
I'm willing to commit every dime of our fund balance toward education, but the issue is -- and I'm willing to say that publicly. I don't have a problem with that at all.
Money is not the issue for me. For me the issue is how it's going to be spent.
You know what, money -- 264 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
And whether it works for everyone. That's part of my charge.
Well, guess what. Money is the issue, too. Because everybody says money is not the issue, let's figure out what the numbers are. Hey, let's verify the numbers. That's an excuse not to provide more money. It's going to -- you need to get 100 percent of the kids, the pregnant teens, you need to get 100 percent of those kids in the Cradle Program. That's money. That's the issue. You need to have transition schools for the overage underachievers. That's money. That's the issue. You know, I've been in public life for 20 years and I've heard the same old story, it's accountability, we need to verify the numbers.
I hope 265 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you're having fun, because I'm ready for you when you're finished.
The issue for me is not just intervention. Once they get of high school age, by that time you've probably already lost them. Well, we've probably lost them. I'm going to use the word "we." And we discussed this last time you were here. If you can predict by third grade reading scores when people are going to drop out, then the intervention should start then.
So I'm asking you what your track record is, what your track record is during your tenure.
I think my track record is that we've seen an increase in graduation rates, a decline in dropout rates. We've seen a significant, I 266 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. think, decline in serious incident reports. We've seen an increase in the number of kids going to college. We've seen an improvement in test scores. And I think that track record compares very favorably to the track record of other big city superintendents. That said and done, it's --
No, no, no. You asked the question. Let me give you the answer.
The specific question I'm asking is the specific epidemic that relates to young black males that starts with underachievement --
Let me finish -- (continued) it starts with 267 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. underachievement, then leads toward higher rates of drop out and it leads toward being murdered or murdering. I'm asking what your specific track record is with regard to young black males and whether you take that as a specific charge, when you talk to me about programs and how the system is achieving in general. You want to talk to me about how good a job you've been doing --
No, no, no. Look, I'm saying -- you're asking me for comparisons. I'm giving you comparisons. Am I satisfied with the progress we've made? No. But I can sit back here since you're -- I can sit back here since you're comparing --
I'm not comparing. I'm asking you specifically about young black males.
Since the implication of your question is that somehow our academic failure --
It's a 268 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. question. It's not an implication.
-- that our academic failure is contributing to the murder rate, and I could also sit back and I could also say, Well, what's been your role in helping the District address some of the critical issues? What about the role of police in the schools? What about the role of providing more persons intervention service?
Mr. Vallas, this is not going to work today. I asked you what your track record is.
And let me explain to you why else it's not going to work. Because you don't question me here. I question you.
Well, I have the opportunity to respond to a question with a question.
Actually, you don't. 269 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
What is your track record with regard to reversing the trend of underachievement by black males in the system?
I think my track record is good vis-a-vis other superintendents and other large districts. Is it satisfactory? No. 11
What is it? You're comparing it to other people in the District. What is your track record?
I'll be more than happy to give you the detailed growth by race and income and social group, both test scores, graduation rates, and then you can draw your own conclusion, but I think the conclusion you will draw is that it's --
If you can 270 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. just tell me, I'd be happy.
Well, I can't give you the exact numbers now. I'll be more than happy to submit it to you.
You know what, I'll provide the information to you. Would that be satisfactory? Thank you.
You could also say you don't know what your track record is.
Thank you, 271 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Madam Chair. Mr. Vallas, one of the warning signs that children will eventually drop out of school is a high number of absences. In all likelihood, a truant student will eventually drop out. Recently, a program has been developed by the Mayor, the School District and the Family Court in order to crack down on the number of truants in the District by holding parents accountable. Could you explain how this program will work?
Yeah. The program is threefold, and it's designed to expand upon three School District initiatives. The first initiative is to expand the number of parent truant officers. The way that program will work is, in effect, more parent truant officers, more home visits. More home visits, more follow-up. The District has historically had about anywhere from 100 to 200 parent 272 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. truant officers. The District has historically had parent help desks and contracts with community-based organizations to have parents and community people in the schools working in a variety of social service categories. But what the Mayor wants to do is to finance the hiring of at least an additional 300 parent truant officers, and those parent truant officers will work in the schools hours a week and 14 they will, in effect, make home visits. 15 So that if a child is absent in excess of 16 three days, those parent truant officers 17 will make a home visit and a follow-up 18 visit. 19 When they make the home visit, 20 they have an opportunity to assess the situation. They can assess and evaluate the situation and they can make referrals to social service agencies. They can call the police, if need be. They can call in DHS, et cetera. So they can 273 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. provide certain social service interventions if they determine that that's needed. Or if they need additional help, they can contact our crisis intervention services and we can go out and address the needs. In addition, the parent truant officers will also not only make home visits to reach those children who have not been attending school, but if you have a child who has attended school regularly and the parent has been absent, the parent isn't coming and picking up the report card, the parent isn't coming to parent/teacher conferences, the parents have been unresponsive, the child is disheveled or the child obviously appears to have been neglected nutritionally, whatever, the parent truant officer can make a home visit to track down the truant parent, so to speak. So the truancy program is not only designed to reach the child but also 274 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. to reach the parent. But all the truant officers will be trained to do kind of social service referrals. The second component of the truant officer program -- or the dropout prevention program is to expand the Saturday program. This is the Saturday program for children and parents and guardians, children who have been chronically absent and children who have been chronically badly behaved. So if you have a child who has been disruptive but they haven't violated the zero tolerance policy and if you have a child who has been absent unexcused for X number of days -- I think the number is three -- the children can be required to attend a series of successive Saturday programs, and they must attend that program with a parent, foster parent or guardian. At the Saturday program, the child and the parent or guardian is provided with certain wrap-around 275 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. services. So, in other words, there will be representatives from social service agencies there, like DHS and others. Right now we have ten Smart Sites, and the plan is to expand those Smart Sites eventually to the 29 beacon sites. These are 29 schools that are open on Saturday for the beacon program. So we'll be able to get thousands of children and their parents in these Saturday programs. And then the third program, the third major initiative -- there are other elements of this, too, but the third major initiative is an expanded outreach initiative with the courts, because obviously your last recourse is court intervention or, for that matter, sometimes reassigning the child or placing the child in a foster home or sometimes imposing fines or whatever. So those are the three main components. We have elements of this program at all levels.
I don't want to say they're pilots because they're not, 276 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. but this allows us to expand these programs dramatically. Where we've had parent truant officers, we've had success. Schools that have had regular parent truant officers for the past four years have better attendance, better test scores, better behavior. So this would allow us to really take this program to scale; in other words, have a team of parent truant officers and community climate people in virtually all of our schools, all of our K-to-8 elementary schools.
Thank you very much. We have to permit the stenographer to break. We'll take a five-minute break. (Short recess.)
Thank you very much. We are ready to move. I know this is one of the most exciting 277 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. days you've had this year. Thank you. We're promising Mr. Vallas that as soon as our testimony is finished, we will invite the student up who has been waiting all day. Thank you for noticing. Thank you. We would now like to entertain a few questions from Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown and then Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to go back to one of the reasons that brought us here, and that was the $70 million plus deficit. You acknowledge four findings, I guess, or reasons for why we got here, the proceeds from the late receipt of the revenues from the sale of property and the number of others. What lessons have we learned going forward so that we don't -- we may have other conversations and we will, but on this particular issue around the $70 278 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. million and the surprise that so many of us got, what lessons have we learned from that?
Well, a couple things. One of the things that we're doing in this year's budget is, we're going to budget a very low rate of salvage and we're going to raise kind of the minimum term pay estimates in our budget. I mean, I think our assumptions about salvage were much higher than anticipated. While they're historic, they're much higher. So we're going to lower that amount. I think this year we're budgeting $6 million in salvage. Now, I think the City's number is probably four times, five times, but we would rather err on the side of caution, so that if we have more salvage than anticipated, it will just give us additional money that we can roll over into programs the next year. It's the same thing on term pay. Our estimates on term pay, which is 279 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the payouts for people who leave the system, and our estimates on salvage, which is unspent appropriations, I think they are unrealistic based on last year's results. So we're making adjustments to reflect last year's results. What that will do is, that will guarantee that we won't have surprises in these two categories again, and that if we do have a surprise, it will be on the positive side. It won't lead us to raise the number the following year. It's just that if we get the windfall, great. It's more money to spend, more money we can put in our reserve.
Was the fiscal FAR, I believe you called it, Fiscal Accountability Review Unit, a direct result of --
Speak to 280 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. what it is.
If I may, Councilwoman, the Financial Accountability Unit, the FAU you're referring to, that was an entity that was created, if you would, by the School Reform Commission and adopted in November. And, yes, the intent of having that ongoing unit, which is made up of appointees on the Commission, our senior CFO, as well as an appointee from the CEO's office, is to maintain an ongoing oversight of both programmatic and budget issues, so there's realtime information being shared and brought back to the School Reform Commission. And, of course, that would be available to City Council or the Mayor's office and also our state partners. And we're really looking at that being one of ten measures that were put in place to really tighten up on what we view as important and 281 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. necessary management policies that were in place, but really refocusing on them and then adding others where we thought they were weak. So, yes, that is part of a ten-point plan, if you would, and one that is going to be ongoing, and I believe it will be very beneficial, both management and to the School Reform Commission, to keep a better view of this budget throughout the school year.
Yes. It's the same thing with the Parent and Community Budgetary Review entity. That will be a permanent entity. As you know, the Home and School Councils who are housed in the central office and have access and participate in the School District's cabinet meetings, we want to set up a formal -- they want to set up a formal 282 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. budget review. It will be beneficial not only in terms of giving them access to the budget documents and all the detail, but also they're going to work with us to design a budget supplement that's easier for parents to understand and more accessible, and we're also going to set up a website that parents can access to get information from them on budget and finance issues. And then what will also emerge from this will be an opportunity to have more public meetings on budget issues, preferably at night, preferably in the community, which will be run and hosted by the Home and School Council Association and other parent and community groups. So that, I think, is going to be a permanent feature of this reform.
Okay. Now, the issues of our dropout rate and truancy also brought us here, and you reference in your testimony the work of 283 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the Blue Reform Commission.
Yes. Many of us have participated in those year-long hearings, and one of the glaring findings, although not new, not a terrible surprise, is still the gap of communication across systems.
The need for us to still figure out how we do that better. So to that question, what role do you believe DHS could have or should have when it comes to increasing the number of youth who graduate from high school?
Well, let me just give you one example. When students are truant and when they're chronically truant, you have a couple of recourses. Because, again, about 65, 70 percent of the children who are absent are absent unexcused, and when students -- and you 284 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. have a choice. If students are absent unexcused and consistently absent unexcused, what do you do? Do you suspend them? Well, great. Then they just stay home anyway, you know. I mean, the more you suspend kids, the greater the likelihood they're going to stay home and they're not going to come back. So you have that dilemma. So what recourse can you take? Well, there's a couple recourses. One is, if students are chronically absent without excuses, you can take them to court or you can take their parents to court. And let me point out that we do. We have mobile courts. We have family courts. We have the mobile rotating family court. So a lot of times we will pursue legal recourse and we'll go to court to get the parent, foster parent or guardian to get the child back into school. Another recourse is a goal to DHS. And we make a lot of referrals to 285 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. DHS for children who are chronically absent. I mean, the case that was cited in the Inquirer Sunday about the child, not only did we make a referral but an assistant principal and a special education coordinator actually visited the home, because the child -- this child wasn't absent. This child just wasn't enrolled in school, trying to get the child enrolled in school. So we'll make referrals, because a lot of times the children and the family will be in the care or under the supervision of DHS or, for that matter, they should be under the supervision of DHS. But then that -- and I can give you the data on the number of referrals that we make a year to either the courts or to social service agencies and to DHS. And they're in the thousands and thousands and thousands. But I'm not here to critique other departments, but a lot of these departments are stretched themselves, 286 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. because what does DHS do when they're overwhelmed with the number of referrals that they get? You see what I mean? So that's our approach. If children are chronically -- now, what we're hoping -- one of the reasons we've been partnering with the faith-based community -- and we now have, I think, 80 legitimate faith-based partners. In fact, former Mayor Wilson Goode has played a leadership role on our interfaith task force to help us establish their criteria for these partnerships is to, in effect, have school and community-based organizations who can reach out to these homes and can provide some sort of intervention besides the interventions that DHS provides or other social service agencies. And so if you have a family that's troubled, you can contact a local community-based organization or reach out and have them visited by the local church. You see what I mean? The local 287 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. faith-based organization.
Does the School District currently have a method in place where when you have a student like the one you just described that has been truant for X number of times and you contact DHS, the Office of Social Services has a system by which departments can talk to each other, they plug in a child's name and all the agencies in touch with that child show up? Is the School District tapped or wired into that system with the Office of Social Services?
I believe we have. Is Gwen Morris here? Oh, you want to come up and join us. I'm sorry. We have our Program Director here. I apologize.
She's going to slug me because I keep on saying Gwen 288 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Morris. Sorry about that.
Currently DHS, the Police Department, Office of Behavioral Health, when you plug in a child's name, all the worlds, all the agencies involved with that child immediately come up, tell if they've been in the Office of Emergency Shelter, so that you get the big picture of that particular child. Is the School District plugged into that system? Because it goes to the question how we can refine different systems talking to each other when we're trying to best serve these children.
Good afternoon. Just to identify myself, my name is Lynn Nichols. No, we are not plugged into that system. You're referring to DSS Cares?
No, we are not. We are hoping to be connected to that system because of what you just said, you can find out every system that's currently connected to that child. So we would like to be able to do that.
So when you say we're hoping to be connected, that means that there's been discussion and you're looking for the dollars to make that happen?
All right then. So let's move on to the Health Department. What role could the Health Department play when it comes to the number of young people who graduate; in particular, those young people who are pregnant? Do you have any thoughts about that, Mr. Vallas?
Yes. Absolutely. Well, the Cradle to the Classroom Program, which is part of the ELECT 290 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Program -- and as you know, we partner and contract out with community schools for this program. The program is designed to identify as many pregnant teens as possible and then to provide the pregnant teens with eligible social service support. So you go and you identify the pregnant teen. You assess the pregnant teen's needs, their income status, et cetera, because a lot of this intervention is triggered by income levels and things of this nature. And then you make referrals to various social service agencies. So the ELECT Program, the Cradle to the Classroom Program or early childhood program --
It's run by Donna Piekarski. Donna Piekarski is our Director of Early Childhood Services.
In the 291 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. School District?
In the School District. And she is part of a coalition of early childhood providers, which include social service agency supports. And all the City departments -- in fact, the drive to revamp this program was started by Alba Martinez, who is now at the United Way and has made this United Way's principal focus. But if there's one program that's very well organized and well coordinated, it's the early childhood program, in part because of the early work by Alba and other work by the United Way. But referrals are made. Referrals are made to -- if a child is homeless, referral is made to the appropriate department. If a child is being raised by a single mother who is in need of income support, the appropriate services are made. The appropriate services are made to the Department of 292 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Health if a child is in need of social service support, healthcare, et cetera, et cetera. We provide special interventions on our own, though. We go in and we do the vision, the hearing tests, the healthcare exams, things of this nature. So we just don't fulfill the academic function; we also provide some social service supports on our own. But most of our early childhood programs are now off campus with off-campus providers, because they can serve more kids much less expensive than we can. They don't have all the mandates and all the requirements that we have to house these programs in our schools. They can do it much cheaper than us. But I think we're very -- we're much more effectively coordinated on this level than we are in addressing some of the needs of the elder kids.
Okay. The Chair and I were discussing the next 293 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. steps after today, and clearly, we need to come up with recommendations which will reflect the kind of testimony we're hearing. And so to the Blue Ribbon Commission report, there's still opportunities for systems to do better in servicing young people. Is there one central office at the School District that calls DHS or the Health Department or is it, for obvious reasons, scattered throughout the system? For example, does the Office of Specialized Services, a counselor from a school calls the Office of Specialized Services and that becomes the center point --
Yeah. There's three main coordinating entities in this department. The first is the School Safety Council, which on school safety 294 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. issues, school climate issues, as you know, created by the Mayor a couple years ago after the shooting outside Strawberry Mansion. You have all the law enforcement and crisis intervention entities meeting, talking on a daily basis, exchanging information and doing coordinated intervention. That's number one. Number two, when it comes to the social service side and even though the Office of Alternative Schools and obviously truancy, our tenets office, focus on those things, Brenda Taylor and Specialized Education Services coordinates among the critical social service agencies, in particular the DHS, when it comes to making referrals, when it comes to making referrals for children who are truant, children who have been neglected, children who have some serious crises problems, and they're constantly in contact. I cited the example of the child who had not been enrolled at school 295 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. visited by an assistant principal and a special education coordinator from Brenda Taylor's office, who in turn contacted the case manager and referred the case manager to this case and to the problems that this child was experiencing. So there is a lot of coordination. I think what's emerged from the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Task Force, though, are recommendations on how coordination can be improved at all levels, not only truancy, truancy prevention, but also student behavioral support and things of this nature. And I think the recommendations offer a good blueprint, not necessarily a call for more financial resources, but rather a call for better coordination of services --
-- and I think the recommendations are there. There is good coordination, but the coordination is 296 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. nowhere that it should be.
One parent referenced the CEP, cited concerns expressed about CEP. What is the role of the School District once those contracts have been approved, particularly for CEP? What type of monitoring/evaluation is done to make sure they are indeed delivering educational services to the behavioral students?
Well, first of all, our office that manages student disciplinary programs also oversee the alternative school providers. And there's just not one provider; there's multiple providers. And let me point out that when we arrived, there was, in effect, three alternative schools run by the District disastrously. We were spending like $30,000 a kid, and the schools had like 50 percent attendance. So they were extraordinarily inefficient, and then CEP and they had one building. And so over the past five 297 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. years, we now have seven different schools, and we have a diversity of private managers who, in effect, provide those services. Now, every one of these private managers signs a contract with us. The contract is performance-based, in that all the schools are evaluated using the same criteria and same standards that we use to evaluate all of our other schools. The kids have to be tested. The kids have to report their attendance. They have to report graduation, dropouts, all those things. So when those contracts come up for renewal, we scrutinize those schools as we would maybe a charter school. I don't want to say a public school, because charter schools and alternative schools are not subjected to the same scrutiny that the public schools are subjected to, because we run them on a day-to-bay basis. But the bottom line is, they have to test the kids and we look at test scores. 298 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. In addition, we commissioned Temple a couple years ago to go in and do an analysis of CEP specifically and to survey parents and to basically get a general idea of -- give us a general assessment of how the school was performing. I will tell you this: One thing working against us -- and, you know, any time anyone wants to take a surprise visit to any school, just give me a day, just call me in the morning and let me know the day you want to come so nobody paints you a pitempt convillage (ph) and I'll be more than happy to have you taken to any one of the schools, be it CEP, be it Camelot, Boone or be it one of the transitional schools that we run up in the Northeast that takes the overage underachieving kids out of the Fels School. But one of the things that works to our disadvantage is, the State says that students who commit serious, serious offenses, when you transfer a 299 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. child out of the District, you can only do it for a year. So that child has to be returned to their neighborhood school within a year. So these schools become very transitory. You have 50 percent, 60 percent mobility in the school. So the kids are moving out of one school and into another and then back into the neighborhood school and then back again and forth again and back again and forth again. So the state laws are kind of crazy, and that undermines the ability of that school to kind of have a stable student body just as they struggle to have a stable faculty. But we look at their test scores and their attendance rates and things like that, and it is --
Does that type of placement make a difference for children in terms of improved test scores and improve the attendance when you separate them?
I'll submit to you 300 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. our own analysis of that. I believe it has. Look, students who enroll in alternative schools and transition schools, in 2002 in this District there were like 2,500 students who were, in effect, released from correctional facilities, et cetera, and they were sent back into the District. One high school got almost 200 students, one high school. Okay? One high school. So we want to talk about dropout rates? One high school, 2,500 kids. Our data tells us that only half of the kids released from these facilities actually physically return to school. And then let me tell you, half don't graduate. Half return and then most eventually fail to graduate anyway. And I'll be more than happy to give you some of the harder statistics on that. When we began to expand the alternative school network and we began to open these transitional schools for overage underachievers or for individuals 301 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. who are being released from correctional facilities and when we set up a program called RETI-WRAP where if a child was released from the correctional facility, we would put them through this two-week RETI-WRAP system where they sat down, counsel them, evaluate them, health check, all those things, tried to get them back on track. And the RETI-WRAP program we've been running for the better part of three years with a lot of success, and we do that in coordination with City agencies and many of the community-based organizations, community agencies, the courts. They're all involved in RETI-WRAP. What we discovered was, we got about 85 percent of the kids to re-enroll. And so these programs are having an effect. They're having an effect. And what we need to do is, we need to find a way to take them to a larger scale. Right now we have RETI-WRAP, but a lot of these kids are 302 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. sent right back into their neighborhood schools. They're either sent into the alternative schools, which are not always suitable for them, or they're sent into the neighborhood schools. If we had more of these transitional schools, the likelihood that those kids would return to school and stay in school and graduate would probably be increased, because a transitional school is not like an alternative school. An alternative school is for discipline-problem kids. A lot of times you have kids who have had problems but they're not necessarily violent or threatening, and sometimes they're overage underachievers, sometimes they are mischievous or they're disruptive, but generally they've kind of dropped out and they don't need to be sent to a CEP or a Camelot. They can be put in a transitional school at Fels or they can be put in a program like YouthBuild or some of those programs. So if we can expand that number 303 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. of alternative school offerings, we can get a lot of these kids who are trying to re-enroll in school. We can get them into the more appropriate settings. Right now it's either the neighborhood school, which sometimes is unacceptable for kids who really have a bad track record -- and, look, how many times have I gotten beaten up with accusations that I'm letting violent kids back into school or we're letting kids that dropped out of school back in and they have a bad record? I mean, how many times do we get calls on that or we've gotten reamed on those type of things? So having a greater and more diversified offering of alternative schools, schools for violent kids who are serious offenders who need to be put in those type of programs and then kids who are just overage underachievers who are academically struggling and really need to be in the right environment. I mean, having the diversity of those type of 304 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
programs would help us, I think, save more kids and get more kids -- right now as we speak, since the Youth Collaborative, since our press conference where we announced this year's re-enrollment, we've been in the process of re-enrolling something like, I don't know -- what is it, Al? How many kids were we re-enrolling after the Youth Collaborative? About 500 kids. But we had something like 800 applicants or something. So we've been re-enrolling kids into programs, getting them back into school, but sometimes it's finding the right setting. Because if we send them back to the neighborhood school without the appropriate supports or if we send them to some big behemoth neighborhood high school, they're just going to get lost. So that's where we're at.
My final question, the hard choices that you've 305 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. had to make regarding the current budget deficit, were any budget cuts made to programs that are serving the very populations we're talking about, truant young people and young people who are on the binge of dropping out?
Well, Sandra Dungee Glenn wouldn't let me. I mean, I tried to tweak a couple programs, but she should have been CSI, like the forensic, because she went through the budget with a forensic fine-tooth comb and said, No, that doesn't do it or that doesn't do it. Even in cases where I said I think we can get some federal money to reimburse us for that, she says, Well, when I see the federal money, then we'll count it. So I think we've really tried to minimize that, but as Councilman Goode pointed out, we need to do more. Just sustaining the reforms that we've enacted is not enough. We've got to take some of these things to a larger scale, and if that means reprogramming some of our 306 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. dollars in the next budget process, we're certainly willing to do that. But I will tell you in all honesty, I mean, you all know that privately I've always lobbied you for more money and more resources and things like that, and I've always done it in a very -- maybe I should have been more public about it. Maybe I should have done what some of my predecessors do and just say, Well, I can't do that, they won't give me money for that or without an equitable school funding formula, I can't do this or can't do that. We need to do a lot with the resources we've been provided, but to really show progress on the issue of dropouts, we're going to need to fund the initiatives identified by the Youth Collaborative. And I'll tell you this: Charlotte-Mecklenburg is considered to be the model urban school district. We've all heard about Charlotte-Mecklenburg and their performance and everything like that. 307 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. When Education Week came out with their study on dropout rate and graduation rates, our graduation rate was a half a point less than Charlotte-Mecklenburg, even Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The so-called Shangri La among large urban districts has a graduation rate or at least in the year studied, 2002-2003, of 56, 57 percent. So the dropout problem is a national problem, but I think we over the last four or five years have been able to identify some things that are having success and the degree -- and our ability to expand them to a larger scale, I think, can translate into additional success.
Thank you for your testimony. Madam Chair, is the Youth Collaborative scheduled to testify?
Good afternoon. I'll make this fast. I don't think this question was directly asked. On the issue of class size that the parents were talking about earlier, does the School District have, I guess, what I would call an average target class size? And, secondly, they gave the amount of $20 million. Does the School District have an amount of money that they think could realistically meet the goal?
Yeah. In order to get all class sizes below -- and let 19 me point out that you're always going to 20 have aberrations, because some schools 21 sometimes will have an extraordinarily 22 large 4th grade class, but in order to 23 get every child in a classroom of less 24 than 25 kids, we would have to hire 25 probably close to about 800 teachers. 309 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. That said and done, there is one teacher for every 25.3 kids, but as I mentioned, a lot of your poorer schools with Title I dollars have smaller classes because they get hundreds and hundreds and sometimes millions of dollars in Title I money and we pressure them to go out and hire teachers. In the rest of the schools, the class sizes are 30, 31, 32. So $20 million would allow us to purchase about 250 teachers. For every one teacher you hire, you, in effect, reduce the class size in four classes. So if you had 250 teachers, you'd reduce the size of a thousand classrooms. That's the way the formula works. For $60 million spread over a two, three-year period, I think we could, once and for all, address the class size problem, and I will try to do that on a gradual basis, every year add $20 million to the budget.
Thank 310 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you. Thank you, Mr. Vallas. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much. Just a follow-up. I'll only ask two questions, because there's so many people still waiting. But do we still have parole and probation officers in schools where we have big problems?
They've deployed them regionally, I believe, Madam. And as you know, Judge Dougherty is now the head of Family Court, and he's come up with a strategy to increase their effectiveness. So I believe they're almost deploying them on a regional level, which is effective. He's got more on the street and he's got -- and they're assigned regionally and they work with the schools regionally. And so I feel pretty good about his approach. He's very aggressive about getting resources out of Family Court and into the schools.
Did 311 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you, by chance, read the article that the Notebook put out on the CEP schools recently?
Yeah. We'd be more than happy to invite CEP in and let them defend themselves. I have a tendency to think that sometimes there can be a bit of a bias against private managers. CEP is certainly well equipped to defend themselves. I think CEP does an adequate job. There aren't a lot of high-quality providers. I believe CEP does a far better job than we ever did. So I do want to point that out. But let me point out that CEP's contract comes up for renewal, just like everybody else, and what we've done is, we've expanded the number of providers, so we've reduced our dependency, Councilwoman, on CEP. And so now we have Camelot, now we have Abraxas. There's a number of other providers. And with the new round of charter school applications, 312 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. I've been inviting charter school proposals that are for alternative placement. So I think CEP has more competition. I also want to point out that we've gotten a considerable increase in our funding for alternative schools, something that we did not have before, and part of the reason is because of CEP's lobby. The Legislature has earmarked alternative schools money to the District to help us finance our alternative schools program, and obviously CEP has been very instrumental in that.
Yes. I had been involved and very supportive. My complaints generally come from the community, because with the advent of uniforms, they see the kids in the street. So that's the problem there.
CEP also takes the toughest kids. But, again, we'll be -- all of these providers will be 313 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. scrutinized, and over the next budget year they'll be scrutinized even more as we try to -- this budget will certainly make us more vigilant when it comes to looking at existing programs to see how we can reprogram the dollars.
I'll mention one other issue and then call on Dee Phillips. I didn't realize Ted Kirsch or Dee Phillips or Jerry Jordan were here, but she's still here to present his testimony. And one of the issues that they mention is layoffs, people who have lost their jobs. She'll make her own testimony. And then I've had people who have called me about the central administration office, like Budget and Finance Department, and who gets laid off and who doesn't, and one case in particular where a gentleman has about 18 months left and what happens when people get laid off. I've been going through this with the Water Department and housing 314 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. departments, how they get cut down so far, as opposed to being able to leave on basically the same level, especially when they're that close to the end, how we deal with layoffs and who gets laid off and a general response to the employee issues.
Well, let me make a general comment. We eliminated 175 positions, and any time you're going to do a reduction in force, you've got a lot of obstacles or there are a lot of issues that you need to be careful with. You want to make sure it's fair. You want to make sure that you're not discriminating on all levels, not just race discrimination, age discrimination, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And so a lot of times you like to go in and do a strategic cut and make a judgment that this is a strong person, this is a weak person and make your decisions accordingly, but you can't do that. You can't do that. Legally you can't do it, 315 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and it's probably not the right thing to do anyway. So in doing these cuts, we really looked at doing a reduction in force across the board. We want it to be even. We want it to be equitable. We want it to be non-controversial. We also wanted to eliminate functions that could be picked up by someone else. So we really kind of followed a template. Because any time you're going to do a reduction in force, you're going to risk challenges. Now, that said and done, as I mentioned, about 47 of the positions were currently vacant and about 53 of the individuals actually moved into other vacancies within the District, as is their right under their collective bargaining unit. So that left us with 81 actual layoffs. Now, the individuals who have been laid off we're trying to help get placed. And I have to be really delicate 316 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. with my language, because going out and saying, Hey, you got laid off, but here, I got another job for you, that would not be -- that could be viewed as inappropriate. Someone could say I got this person the job, but I didn't get someone else a job, even if the job wasn't in the School District. But creating the job bank and connecting people, letting people know what jobs are available and then helping facilitate the connection between those people and those job opportunities we think are going to help us reduce -- to place a large number of these people. I'm going to keep the job bank up and running until everybody is placed. I'm not promising that that's a possibility. I'll also tell you this: Union employees have -- and the job bank is on the website. You can look up the job bank. It lists all the jobs that are available. We're probably going to keep the job bank up permanently. 317 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. But individuals who have been laid off, if they're union types and there are other vacancies in the District, they have the first right to move into those vacancies. They will have re-call rights. So if you're a member of the union and suddenly there's a vacancy in a department that you're eligible for, you would have a right to claim that vacancy. Also, if you're a non-union member and we have a vacancy that is budgeted, we will inform you of that vacancy in this non-union position for the non-union member, and that individual will have an opportunity to apply. So some people may be re-called in the next budget year as new vacancies open up. We're not going to be restoring any of these positions. I mean, we may -- you never can tell what will happen from budget year to budget year. We make decisions on how we're going to reprogram and reprioritize in the next 318 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. budget year, so I can't say that we're not going to create some new positions, but the bottom line here is, as vacancies open up, individuals will have re-call rights. But hopefully most of the 81 will have been placed by then and there will be very few people who will need to exercise their rights because they'll be working with other providers. CEP, for example, because the Legislature gave money to expand the number of slots CEP has for alternative schools specifically and as part of that expansion, they have ten vacancies.
They are going to the RIF list and they're recruiting from among the RIF list individuals to fill those vacancies. There are many schools with vacancies that we didn't identify that people don't necessarily bounce into, and they're going to the RIF list and offering people positions. So hopefully most of these people will be placed before we're done.
Thank 319 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you very much. We'll call you about any individual cases.
Thank you very much. We're going to call Dee Phillips and then this 9th grade student who has been here all day and then any kids. I know District Council 33 has kids. We're going to take care of you youngsters. Okay? Young people.
And I'll get Councilman Goode his statistics promised. If we can get the names, Councilman, of the 386, we'll tell you what their education history is. We'll work on that. Give us about a week on that, though. Okay?
And, in fact, Mr. Vallas, if you submit it to the Chair, we'll make sure everybody gets it.
We 320 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. would also like to thank Councilwoman Tasco for being here this afternoon. Ms. Phillips and then our 9th grader and then kids, kids with programs. Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Thank you very much. Thank you for your patience.
Oh, you're quite welcome. Good afternoon, Chairwoman and other members of City Council. I am Dee Phillips, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. I hold the proud position of Vice-President of the middle years, and I have with me my colleague, Arlene Kempin, who is Vice-President of the elementary grades. Unfortunately, Ted Kirsch had a conflict in his schedule today and our General Vice-President, Jerry Jordan, is out of town, so you got the two of us.
So, again, I thank you for inviting the PFT to testify. Some of what I'm going to say 321 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. today I know you've heard, but I think it bears repeating, and on behalf of our 18,000 members of the Federation, 10,400 which are teachers, we're glad to be here today. Our message is that education cuts don't heal. When principals pack 30 to 40 children in classrooms as they have in nearly 200 classrooms around the City and expect that every child is going to be proficient in math and reading, or when schools force teachers to teach 30 or more students from two different grades simultaneously, or when the District cuts Saturday, after-school and summer programs designed to help students succeed, they are inflicting education wounds that will not heal. Despite statements to the contrary, these policies, many of which were implemented even before the current round of budget cuts, will cripple our students academically. 322 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. PFT members are extremely concerned about the mid-year layoffs, the surprise deficit and the impact of budget cuts on our students and staff. With no fanfare last summer, the District cut a significant number of teaching positions because of the NCLB requirements. They cut 47 non-teaching assistants, 33 secretaries, 30 climate support assistants and school library 12 jobs. Last week it laid off more than 80 13 hard-working employees and demoted and 14 cut the pay of many others. Meanwhile, 15 there were 172 overcrowded classes. I'm going to repeat that. There are 172 overcrowded classes and 71 teachers who are assigned to teach grades simultaneously. That's commonly called split grades. While school resources are being cut, administrative expenditures are rising. According to Standard and Poor's independent school evaluation service, Philadelphia is in the 23rd 323 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. percentile statewide in instructional spending, but its administrative costs are 45 percent higher than the average school district in the state. This equation, not to mention the District's spending priorities, must change. The PFT remains steadfast in its advocacy for students. Parents and teachers want early childhood education for all pre-school children in Philadelphia; significant reduction in class size and to end educational indefensible split grade classes; programs that identify at-risk students early and target them for proven interventions that reduce the likelihood that they will drop out; safe, healthy and orderly schools. Cuts to non-instructional staff have taken a toll on school safety, and deferred maintenance cost one PFT member three fingers this year. To combat the well-documented dropout problem, the PFT additionally 324 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. recommends the School District to transform high schools by offering a variety of programs that help students make the connection between what they are learning in school and their futures. Offer more work study opportunities and better career and technical training. They should make more extensive offerings of career, technical and college prep classes available. Students must be able to choose a high school based on course offerings or thematic orientation and extracurricular activities that meet their needs and interests. Students should have choices among non-selective and selective public high schools that will meet their individual needs. Improve discipline and order, enforce rules with real consequences. Surveys of high school dropouts show that they are distracted and confused by too much freedom. Students say that there are no consequences for roaming hallways, cutting classes or 325 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. performing poorly. The Mayor's truancy initiative should be supported. To eliminate the deficit, we have urged the SRC to reexamine and cut true administrative costs.
We have also recommended that the SRC place a moratorium on new charter school approvals and/or the expansion of existing charter schools. Not that we have anything against charter schools, but they will cost $250 million this year. It is fiscally irresponsible to approve more charter schools without the financial resources to pay for them. We urge the SRC to end the practice of hiring outside lawyers and accountants, retired principals and private consultants and stop privatizing management and services. The savings from outsourcing work is short term, and over time costs rise and the quality of this service diminishes. The District should utilize fully the enormous pool of talented employees and jettison 326 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. consultants and outside contractors to save money. We urge the SRC and the administration to consider the people who daily give so much to the District. These are the working men and women who live in our community. They have families. They rely on salaries and healthcare, and they help our school system function efficiently. Finally, in this era of accountability, teachers and support staff are held responsible for raising test scores year after year. The City Council should demand accountability from the SRC and administration. School District employees are paying the ultimate price for the incompetence of District officials and SRC Commissioners. What about those responsible for faulty assumptions, bad math and fudged budget figures approved by the SRC last spring? Student progress, of which we have been proud, is in jeopardy. The 327 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. future of the City's children, as well as the economic vitality of Philadelphia, hang in the balance. So, again, on behalf of the 18,000 PFT members who work in our schools and the nearly 200,000 students who attend them, we urge City Council to hold the SRC to the highest standards, because their spending priorities and decisions will affect Philadelphia's children for the rest of their lives, and education cuts don't heal. Thank you. Do you have any questions for us?
Thank you very much. We thank you both. Arlene, would you like to comment?
Dee said that I'm one of the Vice-Presidents of the PFT, specifically of elementary schools, but my staff position is that I represent the PFT at the administration building in the Office of Human Resources, and 328 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. specifically last Tuesday when 38 of our members and in addition to 38 of our members, there were a significant number of other non-PFT members who were laid off, several more, 56 of our members but an additional number of non-members, were demoted either to ten-month positions -- they had held 12-month positions -- or five-day-a-week people who now will be working four days a week. This is a significant cut in their salaries. They've lost percent of their 14 salaries. These are not the people that 15 deserve to be punished for these 16 mistakes. 17
Thank 18 you very much. 19 Any questions? 20 (No response.)
Thank you very much. Our 9th grader. (Someone talking from audience.) 329 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
All right. Then young people come. Mr. Mayer Krain, we'll get you next. We'll get the kids. You've been very patient. Thank you. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony. Thank you.
To start, my name is Andrew Broggins. I'm years 12 old. I would like to thank you for the 13 opportunity and honor for me to be up 14 here speaking. 15
Okay. I'm a freshman in Community College. I've gone through almost every program that was mentioned in here. I was a dropout of high school and I've reintegrated into the community through a GED. To start back, during middle school, I started going through some problems. I was kicked out of 7th grade 330 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and sent to CEP for about -- I didn't complete the program and was integrated back into that same high school. It didn't work out too good. Still more problems. I was always told I was an intelligent student, I just had bad behavior, absences, latenesses and about 30 or 40 suspensions a year. And it went from there to going on to Martin Luther King High School, more arrests during probation. At King I was arrested and sent to a facility for adjudicated male youth delinquent. And I came home, sent to RETI-WRAP, Vision Quest, vocational programs such as DeLaSalle. Wow.
Were they good programs? Was RETI-WRAP good, as we've heard? Did it help you? Obviously you look very nice and you are really on point, and I've seen you here before, so apparently your environment and obviously believing in yourself has helped you and hopefully believing in the 331 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. good Lord above has brought you far.
Of course. Of course. RETI-WRAP, it was the only way back into school, because I didn't want to go through vocational. I didn't want that type of future. So I dropped out of that and I dropped out of Martin Luther King. I mean, I went to Germantown after RETI-WRAP. I don't think it was that good of a program, though, to tell you the truth, but it was a good integration. It was a good integration. I guess the only way back into school. I didn't have a choice really. But through RETI-WRAP, I went to Germantown Twilight. I was in Twilight for a few months before -- I was on probation for about seven years at the time, and this was just last year, same time last year. And my probation officer forced me into the E3 center. The E3 center is where I was told once again I was intelligent, but I still wasn't doing 332 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. anything with my life. The E3 center, I took a test. They said that I didn't even need to study for the GED, I could just take it. So I decided to drop out of Germantown and take the GED. I passed it with about a 3,000 or whatever. But I went from there into -- they got me a job and now I work at currently Prescott and Associates. It's financial advising consultants. I work there as a representative assistant. I also work with the Philadelphia Youth Network as a youth ambassador, and I am in Community College studying to be a doctor. And all this happened within about 10, 11 months. It started this year. I started trying to get myself together. And now I'm speaking to you guys. Hi. Other than that, there's a lot I had to say, but I decided not to even read off of this. But I was also in the international baccalaureate program, 333 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. because my grades was good but my behavior was like the worst. I couldn't get into any of the high schools and stuff, my neighborhood high school, so they sent me to that program. That didn't work out too well either, and neither for a couple other people in that program, actually. I wrote that down because I heard that in here, and I realized I was in a lot of these programs, you know, and I'm here to tell my story and I was told to say -- not to say. I wasn't told to say anything. I was told to tell my opinion about what will work and what wouldn't work, you know. And my opinion is that everything that's going on, I believe that the parents as well as the children should be held accountable -- well, their children should be held accountable for truancy. I think that the home situation should be looked at, because you go from home to school and from school to home, nine times out of ten, and that's where 334 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. everything starts at. So I think that should be looked at more deeply. Also, because I was truant like every year of school and I was never contacted by a truant officer, and I was truant over 120 days from 6th grade until I dropped out. They never contacted me. And I don't believe that if a child is not doing well at home, it's hard to do well at school. I believe that. Also --
You're saying you believe that if you're not doing well at home, then you won't do well at school?
No, because I know people who have done well at school and had the worst living situations. I believe that it's hard to do well in school if everything at home is not well, and some people don't have the same tools 335 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. as others.
I think that the problem is looked at on a very large scale. I think it should be minimized to a smaller group, even smaller than race, you know, because there's a lot of people who are in these groups that are, in certain groups, that are in many different races. That way you can learn more about certain people. I believe that students need better education, particularly in the schools I were in. I'm not sure about all of them, but the schools I were in were not teaching anything, like nothing. The math classes were the worst. I never really learned nothing after the 8th grade. Stopped learning, because they teach you things that were the 6th grade work in the 9th grade when you're coming from the 8th grade. I don't understand it, but -- I do understand it. A lot of 336 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. people didn't know. And I think they should start back as far as pre-K, because that's where people start learning, and a lot of subjects are progressional, you know. So I don't think that should be looked at as far as 6th grade. Even farther back than that, because a lot of things start off when school starts. Wow, there's a lot. And I think that parents should have more time home with their children, because a lot of parents overlook a lot of things because they are working too hard, trying to support their family and they're never home, a lot of parents. Some parents don't work and they're still never home, you know. But a whole other subject. And, lastly, I believe that it should be more than the parents that watch over the youth. I think it's a community job, because it takes more than that, and a child is going learn from 337 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. more than the parents. Some children don't learn anything from the parents and learn everything from the community. So I think it should be a community's effort as well to teach the children certain phases in life that he can't be taught by others. And that's all I have to say.
Thank you very much. We're very proud of you, and certainly this Council extends our arms to you. If we can help any way we can support you, you can come see any of us and we'll be there for you.
Thank you. Can you give us your name and then make your statement?
My name is Shadirah Bussey. I'm 15 years old and I'm attending Agora Cyber Charter School as a 9th grade student, and I'm here today to talk about the need for more counselors, nurses, the reason for 338 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. dropout rates and truancy. First I want to start off with the need for more counselors. First, if you don't have the proper number of counselors, how are students supposed to see their future or move on without talking to someone about it? There are approximately 800 students for one counselor. That's not enough. And I think it should be, I say, about 250 per counselor. And you wonder how you can't stop the truancy rate. If you stop sending students from one neighborhood school to another without providing transportation, we wouldn't have the problem. And we have tens of students, but you continue to shut out the arts and music in our schools, but you don't allow us to show our skills. How can you learn in an environment with 30 or more students in a class with one teacher? How about if you try it, see if you could learn? Because 339 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. it won't happen. We already have students having problems with math and reading who have never received the type of classroom support they needed. All we want is a fair education. You have yours. Let us get ours. And another thing I wanted to say was that Mr. Vallas said -- I think he said he never seen a homeless person, but me and my brother, we homeless. Our parents, our family is separated. (Witness in tears.)
It's all right. We work with so many people. On the 19th from 3:00 to 7:00, we'll have our party, and we're prepared for 2,500 women and children, and everybody gets a gift. Every year we do it, and we'll be at the Convention Center this year. So we have dinner, we'll have fun, we'll have a party, and we must make sure you come. So make sure that we know how to reach you. Okay? Are you with 340 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Mr. Johnson? (Witness nods head in the affirmative.)
Mr. Johnson, we'll invite him. He'll make sure that you come. So we're here for you. Mr. Johnson is always helping young people, so he'll help you. It's okay.
We bust our hide to take care of each other. And my mom, she going through a lot and it's not really -- we don't get no help. I miss my mom.
Okay. We'll try to help you. It's one of the things we do. And Mr. Johnson knows me very well for a very long time, and we'll help you in any way we can. Sir, young man, you're next. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Who, me?
Yes. You don't want to speak? All right. Thank you very much. 341 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. We thank you. Thank you all. You've done a great job. After Mayer Krain, we're going to ask Sherman Harris. He has four students with him, unless he left. Oh, dear. They have an apprenticeship program that they work in conjunction with the School District. After Mayer Krain, we're going to ask Sherman Harris and the students to come forward, if they're still here, or we certainly want to ask him to talk about his program. Mr. Krain and then Sherman Harris. Thank you.
This is not from my original speech, but I just wanted to put on the record that charter schools are not really all banged up to what they're supposed to be. Today's Inquirer, it basically shows on page Section B, they overhauled the charter school, another financial problem. I think if maybe Council would read into that. There's been some overbillings and things like 342 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that to the School District. And I'll start my speech. I just also want to make one other comment, that charter schools are not audited by anybody. No one audits a charter school. So any monies they bill or whatever they do goes right to them and they spend it any way they want to. Okay. Chairwoman Blackwell and all the other parties that are interested in the betterment of our children's education, my name is Mayer Krain and it's spelled M-A-Y-E-R, K-R-A-I-N. I'm here today as a concerned citizen of Philadelphia, who was born, raised and lived my entire life so far in the City of Philadelphia. I'm a product of the Philadelphia public schools, a graduate of Drexel University and a licensed Pennsylvania CPA for over two decades. I pay taxes to the City of Philadelphia as a salaried employee, wage tax; a business owner, business privilege and net profits; an investor, School 343 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. District income; a property owner in the way of real estate taxes; and various other taxes that are buried in costs charged to me. Some of those taxes go directly to the benefit of the School District. I, therefore, have a strong vested interest in seeing that the Philadelphia public schools, with its students, teachers and other employees, succeed in each of their endeavors. The Paul Vallas regime originally came en mass from Chicago demanding large salaries. The current term in education is NCLB, No Child Left Behind. For Vallas, NCLB means No 17 Comrade Left Behind. He brought them here either as School District employees or as subcontractors. Mr. Vallas was given $300 million from bond proceeds to supplement annual revenues to help in reforming the education of the School District of Philadelphia. This money has all been used up within five years. 344 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Vallas circled the wagons in order to keep the City Controller from independently reviewing the School District's financial records. He now has finally admitted to suddenly the appearance of a deficit of 73 million just after his contract was renewed for two more years. There were rumors of a $100 plus million deficit for the Fiscal Year '06-'07 prior to July 2005 and before the April 2006 testimony given before City Council. Vallas also yanked away discretionary spending from the principals last school year. The School District also claimed to impose a hiring freeze. However, if you go to the SRC's resolutions on the School District website, you will find additional job creations consistently being made after the hiring freeze announcement was made. If you add to that now the admitted $73 million deficit, the $38 million that Vallas is shorting the ten-month 345 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union members with the 27 pay periods, the School District administration's contention, versus the PFT's contention of pay periods, you will now arrive at 7 the $100 plus million deficit amount. If 8 the PFT union prevails with the 9 arbitrator's decision from its lawsuit 10 expected this month, there is $38 million 11 that has not yet been factored into the 12 current budget cuts. 13 Vallas has not offered to cut 14 out contracts to vendors that are 15 non-residents of Philadelphia or 16 Pennsylvania. The School District has 17 contracts with politically connected 18 for-profit companies from Tennessee, 19 which is Community Education Partners, or 20 CEP, and New York, Edison Schools, and a 21 non-profit from New Jersey, Foundations 22 Inc.
Many ex-School District employees 23 have left the School District and signed 24 on to these companies to do work for 25 substantially more money, while receiving 346 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. their School District pensions. They accept positions with these companies and even negotiated contracts on behalf of those companies with the School District, all within a year of leaving the School District. This is a violation of School District policy that appears not to be enforced. Vallas's budget cuts are basically on the backs of approximately 188 non-politically represented little guys right now at Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday time. Many of these people are residents of the City of Philadelphia. They live here, they work here, they vote here, they raise their families here and they spend their money here. They don't take their profits back to Tennessee, New York or New Jersey. Any new monies that the City provides should be earmarked specifically to restore those people immediately back to their jobs. There is a website called 347 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. org. From this website you can obtain information on the largest Philadelphia real estate tax delinquents and the total amounts of those delinquencies. At the School Reform Commission on November 10, 2006, I provided delinquent taxpayer accounts from the City's website, which showed three rowhouses with $1,500 in annual real estate taxes owing from $16,000 to $20,000. This is not an anomaly. I believe that the City of Philadelphia should collect the massive amount of delinquent real estate taxes and provide the School District with its share of monies. Any additional money that is provided to the School District should have restrictions attached. The State Legislature placed restrictions with the EMO contractors' monies. The City should be possibly reviewing the actual School District contracts. The City provides ten years of 348 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. real estate tax abatement on newly constructed properties. That may be great for the City for current wage and business taxes, but the School District receives nothing. As a matter of fact, it receives less than nothing. The real estate value of those properties and income of those people allows the State to decrease its aid ratio to the School District. However, the School District has the cost of educating their children. We have constantly heard from the Hornbeck and Vallas administrations that our children's test scores are rising every year. So why after 12 years of increasing test scores are our children not reaching a substantial amount of proficiency? Is this all hype, and then why is the dropout rate so significant? I just wonder what the real agenda in education is of our children. Thank you for your time and consideration, Councilwoman. 349 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
Thank you very much. We appreciate your involvement. We met you at the School District. Thank you for your patience. Sherman Harris, we certainly invite him, and students from District Council 33 apprenticeship program that is conducted with the cooperation of the School District. Thank you very much.
We're sorry we have to bring you in here like every day.
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. First of all, originally this testimony -- I was a guest to sit while someone else read the testimony, so you'll see it says Local 1637. Also, originally I had four students with me. They had to leave, but I would like to 350 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. just state their names, because they were here. Leah Exum from West Philadelphia Auto Academy, Calvin Harrington from the West Philadelphia Auto Academy, Brittnie Lewis-Norris from the West Philadelphia Auto Academy and Veronica Richardson from William Penn Health Center. I have two of their testimonies that I just would like to read before I read mine. I think they need to be heard, because --
I am absolutely so sorry. We were just there in June congratulating this Automotive Academy.
We're proud of them. That's one of our proudest achievements. We love them. First of all, the first testimony is from Brittnie Lewis. It says, "Good morning. My name is Brittnie Lewis-Norris. I'm a 10th grader at the West Philadelphia High Auto Academy. "My opinion as a student is to add more classes/electives to schools. I 351 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. think students tend to focus more with some excitement in education. When I say classes/electives, I'm talking about business culture, learning about different religions, cosmetology, culinary arts, dance, interior design, driver's education, et cetera. This would stop students from dropping out of high school. "For the young women who have babies, schools should add child centers or daycares. Most of the school dropouts are young mothers. The reason being is that they don't have the proper help to supervise their child, so they drop out. "At West Philadelphia High, we have a trade which is automotive and engineering. The school has helped me a lot. It's smaller, and the teachers are great. Learning is exciting." That's good to hear. "I like to learn and experience different things. West Philadelphia High Auto Academy helped me accomplish that. 352 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. I am happy to know that students can lift their voices and have the opportunity to talk about what they think is wrong, what they think is right. We've had can drives, trips, after-school programs. But, of course, these are rewards for academic success. Students appreciate these rights, not only as children but as young adults. "The Automotive Academy is the best thing that has ever happened to me. It has made me realize that knowledge is the key to success and dropping out isn't for me." This is from Leah Exum. "In the mind of most high school students, school is the last thing on their mind. The reason being is that all the eye catchers have been taken away, such as home economics and our uniqueness. Over time the graduating percentage has fallen a great deal and the survivors are not prepared for the future. For example, my goal is to be an 353 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. interior designer, so working with the Auto Academy has been very informative and will prepare me for the future and prep me in my lifelong dream of working with automobiles and materials. "My teachers and guides have really inspired me to keep my goal by having interactive days in the shop and choice and decision-making on a daily basis. "If we were given more money, I think West Philadelphia High School for Automotive and Technology will succeed and overflow with successful careers and so on. Every kid is not a master in biology and they are not a mathematician. So when they look at their report card, they can say, 'I have done my best in the hard subject, but I've excelled in my sewing class or cooking class, even in my auto shop.' "Please let us have more classes with the standard one we have. Keep the children interested in school, 354 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and the world will change. The children are our future." That's nice. That's great to hear students talk.
I wish they were here, but we do work with the students. Before I read, we work with these students, and you'll be surprised by showing a little interest and a little time in them how you can change their lives, and this is a pretty good example of children that were probably somewhat wasted or lost in the streets that they're reaching. We are here because we, like many others, are seriously concerned with the Philadelphia dropout crisis. District Council 33 families have thousands of dependent children, many of them students in the School District of Philadelphia. Our members and our union work hard to ensure that the futures of 355 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. our children are filled with opportunity. We know firsthand that dropping out diminishes opportunities. District Council 33 has formally been involved with high school students for many years. We have a track record of success when it comes to keeping students in school. We come to you today to ask that you support and expand these successful programs. Since 1993, District Council 33 has partnered with the City of Philadelphia's Office of Fleet Management in an internship and apprenticeship program. The same program also exists in the Philadelphia Parking Authority. The program begins working with high school students in the summer between 10th and 11th grades. Students become paid interns, who are mentored by our members, who are skilled automotive technicians. They work full time in the summer and part time during the school year. The program requires that students 356 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. meet strict academic and attendance standards during the two and a half years they serve as interns. During this same time, they must master basic technical competencies as well. Students who successfully complete the program become civil service automotive apprentices. Since the inception of the program, DC 33 and its members have worked with over 100 students. Over 50 have become full-time City employees and approximately 35 remain working in the public sector today. But that's not all that we have done. This summer, in conjunction with the Philadelphia Academies Incorporated and the Philadelphia Youth Network, we hosted summer interns in our computer 21 lab for the weekly career exploration and 22 development component of their summer 23 internship program. 24 We know that there is no magic 25 pill for dealing with the dropout crisis, 357 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. but as the recent study on the dropout crisis points out, engaging students in career-oriented study helps. We knew that before the study. The union is already engaged in discussion with the Department of Public Property about launching an internship and apprenticeship program for the trades positions that are so critical in maintaining the City's facilities, including police and fire facilities. In conclusion, District Council 33 is a willing partner to the City and the schools in internship programs and apprenticeship programs. We believe that the more students are connected to careers, the more likely they will succeed. We ask that you're willing to work with the Philadelphia Academies and the Philadelphia Network to continue to develop more programs. We want to expand opportunities for students in career areas beyond the auto and Internet apprentice with the City. We ask that 358 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Council and the City Administration would support and help bring about resolve and resources to the table to expand opportunities for the Philadelphia school students to work with in City government. I thank you for your time. And I also would like to thank Council for their patience and diligence in this matter, because this is an important matter, even as a parent. I have two products of public school.
One is a nurse and one is going to school to be a lawyer, and I think when we work on our school system as parents and Council and legislators, we benefit.
Thank you very much. I only regret that Paul Vallas is not here, nor the Mayor, but they understand how important this program is, and this is one of the programs that we talked about in our call for action as a way to reduce violence, and we certainly are trying to see what we can do. And the Mayor committed to 359 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. working with us on truancy to see if we could help get some programs funded and some coordinated with other funding sources so that we can have more after-school programs and for job training and libraries and rec centers and certainly in our schools. And we thank you for your commitment for all that you do. It's a wonderful program.
Thank you very much. Dr. James Roebuck was here. He left his statement. He could not be here. We will submit it in its entirety to our record. Dr. Arthur Evans, Commissioner, Department of Human Services, was due to speak on truancy. Our day has been too long. And we saw Pamela Crawley from Citizens Bank leave. So we regret that she could not stay. We see Shelly Yanoff, Executive Director of PCCY, Philadelphia Citizens 360 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. for Children and Youth. We invite you to come. We also have down Sheila Simmons, your Education Coordinator.
Madam Chair, I'm here today with the Youth Transitions, the group that's working on dropout prevention primarily. Could either I ask them to join me and then we'll move to Sheila --
-- or since it's so late, would you prefer if we reschedule? This dropout prevention issue is so important. Would it be more conducive to reschedule it or should we go forward?
If we had hearings on dropout rate later, I can't tell you when they would be. Thursday we recess. That's why we had this hearing today. Thursday Council recesses, and though we will be here in our offices, we don't have another session until January 23rd when the Mayor 361 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. presents his budget. So that's going to limit our time even further, because as all of you here know, once we're on the budget, we have to fight for time to get in our hearings. So we could have it, but it could be -- I have hearings scheduled on the 23rd and the 30th. It wouldn't be until maybe sometime around Valentine's Day and --
Well, maybe we can do some today and maybe we can reschedule it for a follow-up after Valentine's Day.
Okay. Mr. Vernard Johnson, we're going to call on you for testimony. We're going to call any and everybody here who would like to speak, will be considered, and your statement will be in full on the record. 362 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Also, as you're coming forward, we will submit testimony, as the President already said, from Alfred M. Brown, Point Breeze Performing Arts; Jane Kauer, Parents United for Public Education and Powel School; Greg Wade, Philadelphia Home and School Council; Reverend Robert P. Shine, who left his testimony as well. We will submit all of that for the record. Thank you. We welcome you all.
Thank you. And again, Madam Chair, I hope I'm not trying your patience too much, but --
No. 17 You're fine. We thank you for your patience.
Candace Bell from the William Penn Foundation has to leave in five minutes and she was a part of our testimony, so may she start and then I'll come back?
And certainly let me acknowledge that Mr. Len Finkelstein was here. He was the superintendent back when I was a kid in elementary school. He wanted to testify. He's worried about youth violence, as was Dr. Audrey Brunson, Pastor of Sanctuary Church of the Open Door and former Professor at Cheyney University. Welcome. I'm sorry. Thank you for your patience.
Well, thank you. I'm glad to have this opportunity to testify. My name is Candace Bell and I'm a Program Officer at the William Penn Foundation, and I'm in charge of their education-related grant making, and I'm here to speak in support of Project U-turn, which I think has been referred to by various names here, from Youth Transitions to the Collaborative to any number of other names, but we've been calling it Project U-turn. As you know, the William Penn's 364 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. commitment to education in Philadelphia is both longstanding and substantial, as is our commitment to ensuring the economic and social well-being of the City. The dropout crisis as described in the Project U-turn report, which I believe you all have had opportunity to look at, and testified to by those who are going to come after me here is one that has serious implications beyond school reform or quality of life in our neighborhoods. Philadelphia cannot move into the 21st century with close to 50 percent of its young adults not having a 12th grade level of proficiency. What employer is going to move here with half the workforce unqualified for jobs in this new high-tech economy? This is a ball and chain on progress at all levels that cannot be ignored any longer. It impacts the City's economy, its tax burden, its safety, quality of life and its civic life. The Foundation first became 365 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. involved with this issue through a national funders affinity group called the Youth Transition Funders Group in 2002. We participated in the design and funding of the seven-city initiative that has produced what I am calling Project U-turn here in Philadelphia, and similar initiatives are underway in Boston, New York, Portland, San Jose, Washington, DC and Las Vegas. Locally, the Foundation has invested $2.4 million to date in this issue as part of the local matching funds that is required by the National Foundations. We feel a critical element to the success of Project U-turn has been the participation of multiple systems in this initiative, because we feel this is a problem that goes beyond what the District can do on its own. We are proud of the fact that the District, Department of Human Services, Family Court and the Youth Council have set aside politics and brought their best minds to bear on this 366 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. issue. And I cannot underscore that enough. That has gone on in a way that we rarely see in this initiative. Not surprisingly, Philadelphia stands out among the other cities in its progress to date. In fact, Philadelphia has an opportunity, with Council support -- and I think that's really important and that's why we're delighted that you're going to actually have these hearings today and prioritize them ahead of some other things. This is why Philadelphia really is set to become a national leader on this issue. The William Penn Foundation for its part is committed to supporting Project U-turn going forward. National Foundation investment will also continue through the Youth Transition Funders Group, provided the City systems and the District continue to work together and prioritize this problem for investment. Thank you.
Thank 367 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you very much. Your name again is?
Is Wyneshia Foxworth, City Year, still here? (No response.)
I know there were many folks here and they left. What about Greenfield School, anyone here from Greenfield?
Good afternoon. My name is Laura Shubilla. I'm the President of the Philadelphia Youth Network, and the Philadelphia Youth Network is the lead agency, the convening organization, in the Youth Transitions Collaborative, which has recently branded itself as -- and Project U-turn is the initiative the Collaborative launched this fall. I'm happy to be here today and speaking in front of you about what I think is a critically important issue to the City, as you've heard from many people who have gone before me. You have written testimony from myself and Pamela Crawley that's attached to the two reports that the Collaborative released earlier this fall looking at the issue of sort of the scale and the characteristics of young people who drop out of school in the City and also a set of recommendations about what we can do about it. So given the time, I'll be 369 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. very brief with my written --
I'm just going to highlight three things that I believe that we've learned through the work that we've done this year, and then other members of the Collaborative will go into more detail about some of the work. But the first is, we talked earlier about whether this was prevention or whether it was early intervention or whether it was reengagement and recovery, and I think what we've learned from the research on the projects that we've done this year is that it isn't any one of those things but it's all of them. So we must do as much prevention as we can, intervene as early as we find red flags and then continue to work with young 370 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. people through their transition into high school and on to college. The second thing that young people pointed out repeatedly over the last months is, it's about 7 connections, and those connections are 8 about young people feeling connected to 9 adults, whether it's adults in the school 10 building and adults in their community, 11 and making connections between what young 12 people learn in school and what they want 13 to do with the rest of their lives, 14 whether it's employment or college. 15 The third thing is that most 16 young people really want to come back to 17 school, and the obstacles they faced in 18 doing that are varied. One thing we've learned from the 500 young people we've been working with who came to Project U-turn or who have been calling the hotline ever since has been the top two obstacles they faced are child care and housing, and the top two opportunities that they're looking for are employment 371 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and the ability to earn a high school diploma. Several of the recommendations that are in the reports I think sort of stress what we think are some of the key elements to the success of this. The first is really building multiple pathways to graduation. The second is ensuring cross sector collaboration, and the third is accountability. I thank you for your time.
Good afternoon. My name is Courtney Collins-Shapiro. I'm from the School District of Philadelphia and I'm running the new Multiple Pathways to Graduation, a program in the District, and the focus of that department is really to sort of identify all of the programs that service out-of-school youth and students at risk of dropping out, figuring out how we create new options for them so that they 372 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. can graduate and be successful. So, again, given our brief time, I have printed comments that I'll make sure that you have. I want to focus on five programs that we've created within the past months that we're either starting 9 or we've retooled so that we can really 10 reach this group of students. 11 First we have accelerated high 12 schools. You heard Mr. Vallas talk 13 briefly about those, called them our 14 transition schools. We have four 15 accelerated high schools in the City of 16 Philadelphia right now. We're serving 17 775 students and we have 830 students on 18 wait lists, who actively signed up and are ready to enroll if we had seats for them. We'll be opening 125 new seats in January of 2007. And when we look at our data in the School District of Philadelphia right now, when Mr. Vallas talked about overage undercredited students, we have about 7,100 students 373 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. currently enrolled in the high schools who are one or two years behind either in credits or in age to graduation. So we have a pool right now in schools of more than 7,000 students who could enroll in an accelerated high school if we had seats. Additionally, our researcher is not here any longer, but from the dropout reports that you have, the Project U-turn reports, it does show that there are about 8,200 students dropping out every year. So if you took those 7,100 students who are highly at risk and those 8,200 students who have dropped out, we've got a pretty large pool of students who need additional services through things like accelerated high schools. We also have our Educational Options Program that also serves overage undercredited students who are a little further along towards their diploma but have dropped out. We serve 2,000 students in that program now. We had 800 374 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. students earn a high school diploma in that program last year, and we estimate we have about 1,000 students who would be eligible for that program if we can provide seats. This year our sort of jewel in the crown is the Gateway to College Program. We just started that program at Community College of Philadelphia. The School District of Philadelphia and the Gates Foundation fund that program. We had 40 high school dropouts who joined the program in fall of 2006. We'll have 60 more students who will enroll in January of 2007. And if we get to our estimated full enrollment in 2009, we'll have 400 students who were previously out of school who will be enrolled full time, earning both a high school diploma and an Associate's degree at CCP. So it's a really great program. It requires an 8th grade literacy level. One of the things I think if Center for Literacy were here to talk 375 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. more about some of their programs, we find that about 90 percent of the students who apply to that program aren't eligible because they're reading below an 8th grade level, and these are high school dropouts. So we're creating -- 90 percent of the students who apply are not eligible because they are so low literacy, so we're starting to address that issue and create some new literacy programs for those students so that they can come back and earn their diplomas. And then two new programs that we've just started. One is the Dropout Prevention Specialists Program.
We're hiring trained social workers in seven high schools to focus specifically on the most at-risk 9th grade students in those schools and on students who have dropped out of those high schools who are going to be coming back to earn a diploma. So students who are coming back from juvenile placement, teen parents, that demographic. 376 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. So those folks are going to be doing this work starting in January. We're modeling after a program in Boston that's been very successful at bringing students back to school and keeping them in. And, finally, we have a program that's really targeted in school youth. It's called the Student Success Center Program. We have eight of them currently in neighborhood high schools. They provide college support, academic preparation, career exploration services and social support services. So we take School District staff and non-profit and community-based organization staff and resources, we pull everything together. We create like a one-stop shopping for students in high schools. So, again, we have those in eight neighborhood high schools, and they really are focusing on every student in the school and, in some cases, students in the community. So students can come in after school, before 377 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. school. There are summer programs that operate out of those centers. So those are five major things that the District is doing. And, again, in closing, everybody sort of talked a little bit here about we need funding, we need resources. You heard Candace Bell talk about how Philadelphia is becoming a national leader in these efforts. We've had folks from Annenberg in. We've had folks from Gates in to take a look at Philadelphia. They need to see that the City is investing in our out-of-school youth and our at-risk youth if they're going to continue to invest in Philadelphia. So thank you for your time.
Thank you. Very important testimony. Thank you very much.
Good afternoon again. My name is Brian Armstead. I'm the Director of Civic Engagement for the 378 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Philadelphia Education Fund. I also submitted written testimony, but I'm just going to hit the essentials since we are running short on time. But I do want to thank you, first of all, for having these hearings and encourage you, again, to follow up with Shelly and with Laura to really hold either continued briefings or hearings, because this is an issue that is going to require the entire City of Philadelphia community to really get our hands around. I think that it's easy just to have several people get up and start talking about initiatives that we're working on, but the true fact of the matter is, it's going to take the political folks in the City, it's going to take the business community, the civil leaders and the people at large to really make a demonstrated difference in this. And so, again, I would encourage you all to use the resources, the stature that you all have to really galvanize people and 379 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. influence ideas in the City working in conjunction with the steering committee from the Collaborative to really make a profound difference here. The Philadelphia Education Fund, our particular role in this process has been we were working with Johns Hopkins University to conduct the research that you all have heard a lot about today; in particular, tracking the cohort of over 12,000 Philadelphia students that entered 6th grade in 1996-'97 and followed them through to 2003-2004 to look and see who graduated, who didn't, what were some of the factors that can be pulled out to identify as early as 6th grade as being indicators that these kids are not going to graduate. And four things jumped out. The first is if the young boy or girl in 6th grade was failing math; second, failing English; third, had low attendance, which was attending school 80 percent or less of the time; and the 380 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. fourth was poor behavior, which was having a poor behavioral grade in the last marking period. With those four things, if a child has any one of those four things, then the way the study played itself out, nine out of ten of them, nine out of ten of those kids, will not graduate on time. And so the fact that we're able to identify these factors becomes very important, because by the time a child gets to 9th grade, normally they're hitting the trifecta or the quadfecta, whatever you want to call it, with all four. They may be failing math and English, have behavior problems, they're not coming to school. But in 6th grade, generally the child only has one, maybe two of those factors going on, so that we can apply much more specific targeted interventions. And we've started to do that. We've started working with the School District to begin to apply some of those 381 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. interventions and see what's the best way that we can steer these kids back on course to graduation. But, again, the fact of the matter is that working in 6th grade is only a part of the issue and that we have to make sure that the entire continuum of secondary education moves kids toward graduation. And so, again, with my limited time, I'm just going to say, before Shelly yanks the microphone from out in front of me, just, again, continue to encourage you all to exercise real visible leadership around this issue. Thank you.
My name is Kristin Shipler. I'm the Director of Civil Engagement with a community-based 382 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. non-profit organization called Congreso de Latinos Unidos.
We're the largest Latino social service agency in Pennsylvania and we are also a part of the Philadelphia Youth Transition Collaborative, because we do prioritize the issue of out-of-school youth within our organization. We want to thank City Council for prioritizing the needs of the Latino population in our great city, especially knowing that the Latino communities have unique challenges and they're actually a growing population in Philadelphia. Since 1990, the Latino population in Philadelphia has increased by over 65 percent, with our current population estimates now placed at over 145,000, and almost 50 percent of Latinos in Philadelphia are younger than years 24 of age. 25 Let me start by introducing a 383 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. statistic that was highlighted in the Project U-turn report. 2 percent. So we've been talking a lot about the 50 percentile, but we're actually in the Latino community talking about 30 percent graduation. Less than 40 percent of our population in Eastern North Philadelphia, which was where we are located, has graduated from high school. We know the crisis is real for all of our youth and it's especially so for Latinos. And when you look at the language and cultural barriers and the poverty that faces the Latino community, that's why we're seeing that the dropout rate is so profound there. But we've been in the community for 30 years, and our services reach more than 10,000 youth per year. Our client base is about 23,000. We're also working 384 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. with the parents of these youth. We view the schools as the heart of the community, and as such, we've strategically aligned many of our youth programs with the education system. Our contribution to the school system provides supports to prevent high school dropouts, and we need to address the root causes that lead youth to drop out of school in the first place, and we've heard a lot about that today. We realize this isn't enough. There are many youth already out of school who need the community's support. So in response to this, I've been asked to talk specifically about what Congreso does to serve out-of-school youth, and that is, by managing one of the City's E3 centers. The E3 centers were designed as intensive career preparation programs for youth age between 14 and 21, and students who drop out of schools are very unlikely to return. So that's why E3 centers are 385 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. really great for them, because they provide an appropriate and youth-driven context. Students who come to the youth centers actually have some decision-making within the process of how the program is run. And we help educate our clients toward reaching a high school equivalency diploma and we help them build skills that they need to enter the workforce. Members work with our staff to identify career interests, set goals and gain the skills they needed to achieve them. But this is hard work and it takes extensive dedication to each of the youth to ensure that they meet the goals set out for them. On average, currently $3,000 is dedicated to each youth slot in an E3 center. This is an amount that differs quite dramatically from upwards of 40,000 that can be spent on youth placed in residential treatment centers. The research demonstrates that 386 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the primary critical factor in successful intervening with this population is a caring adult, and as such, we have committed a case worker to each of the youth that come into the E3 centers. This differs a little bit from what you see in the schools. But as such, we propose increased capacity within the current centers to fully address the myriad of needs that each of our clients present. In addition, we advocate for additional E3 centers that are substantially less expensive than the alternative of residential centers and, if implemented, can demonstrate the same outcomes if funded adequately.
With an emphasis on quality over quantity, we will more likely ensure real positive change in the lives of the clients we serve. We have seen in the year that we have operated the E3 center the absolute essential component of personal connections with adults. Again, 387 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. an adult connection is one of the most influential components that lead an out-of-school youth towards success. And I just want to give you one example of one of our students that goes there. Christina -- and this is not her real name, but she's a 17-year-old Latina who dropped out of high school when she was 14. She was in 9th grade. She became pregnant, and when her baby was born, her mother kicked her out of the house. So where does this leave Christina? She doesn't have consistent child care. She's been evicted three times from housing. She doesn't have relationships with her parents, the father of her daughter or other relatives, and she's an only child. And she's currently looking for work, but because of her child care situation, she hasn't been able to hold down a job. And this is very common for the students that we serve in these E3 centers. She's not a rare case. 388 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. But she connected to the E3 center in January of 2006, and so far, her skills have improved from 4th grade to 7th grade reading and math levels. She's currently enrolled in a GED program. She's completed a six-week program in computer repair, and she works to hours within the E3 center. 10 Just as important, though, through case 11 management she has found more stable 12 housing and child care. She's built 13 better peer and social networks, and 14 she's working toward involving the father 15 of her daughter in their lives. 16 So the E3 center is really a 17 wholistic approach, and case management 18 is very essential. 19 The connection she's made with 20 her case manager and the direction the case manager has been able to provide her have been the successful keys. But she's not quite there. We can't give up on her until she actually receives her GED and she receives sustainable employment. And 389 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. we're committed to get her there, but it takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of resources. There are many Christinas in Philadelphia, and we aim to provide quality, outcomes-based results that will lead our clients to self-sufficiency. The collaboration of all these organizations here is significant, and we need support. With City Council prioritizing this grave issue of dropouts, we attend to, in tandem, the overrepresentation of Latinos and African-Americans in the juvenile justice system, the violence that's gripping our City, and the economic and social impact that's debilitating Philadelphia's efforts to become a more prosperous urban center. Thank you for listening.
Thank you very much. Very important testimony. Sir.
Yes. My name is 390 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Charles Rand. I'm with the Center for Literacy. The Center for Literacy is the largest community-based non-profit literacy provider in the country. On behalf of the Center for Literacy, I am pleased to be here today to discuss the needs of youth at risk of dropping out of school because of low literacy levels. During the 2004-2005 fiscal year, CFL, Center for Literacy, worked with 985 out-of-school youth age 14 through 21. These were high school 15 dropouts, both male and female, 16 representing all races. These young people came to CFL with goals, wanting a high school diploma or a GED. Who are these youth? They are under 21, and 77 percent were reading below a 6th grade level, and 87 percent had math skills below the 6th grade level. Some were in special education, while others were low achievers. Many have adult responsibilities as parents 391 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and workers, and need support as they search for housing and strive to overcome barriers. The Center for Literacy's Citywide programs are open to these youth in neighborhood centers, in community programs and family literacy programs. Some of the classes were designed particularly with youth in mind. In others, the youth were integrated with adult learners of all ages. Starting in July of 2005, literacy coaching was in the E3 centers. At the same time, the Center for Literacy was developing a toolkit for teaching out-of-school youth with low literacy skills as part of the City of Philadelphia's response to the challenge of working with struggling youth using funding from the Youth Transition Funders Group, the Collaborative. The research and professional literature were analyzed for this project, and it can be summarized as follows: 392 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Serving the literacy needs of out-of-school youth, particularly those reading below the 6th grade level, is a complex task. Adolescence is a time for upheaval for the vast majority of people and is made more difficult by the kinds of situations that require youth to leave school early. If teachers serving the out-of-school youth population come to better understand how adolescents develop, how they are different from adults and how to provide quality reading instruction to meet their needs, these learners will be better served regardless of the educational setting. The toolkit contains a Literature Review, including research as well as reflections of the evaluator and several teachers, a professional development plan, standards and indicators of quality program, and sample lesson plans. Examples of the standards and indicators of critical importance to a quality education program for low 393 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. literate youth include direct reading instruction is systematic and structured. That's Standard No. 6. Which must work hand in hand with Standard No. 7, instructional methods capture the learners' attention and actively engage him or her in the learning process and, as we've heard time and again today, class size is kept small. That's Standard No. 12. Furthermore, quality staff development is critical to the literacy skills development of these youth. In implementing this toolkit, what have we found out? First of all, students with small group tutoring by reading specialists or a trained adult educator can achieve results of two to three grade levels in four months of instruction. Second, to enable these youth to continue in the program, they require a system of providing caring adult guidance. 394 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. There's a great deal of work ahead for all of us as we hope to provide promise to these youth.
We believe that the collaborative partnerships are essential in creating, implementing and bringing to scale the educational options being discussed, and we strongly encourage the leadership of Philadelphia to reflect on the impact low literacy has on our region's economic health and the power of literacy in helping youth contribute to the future of our great city. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today.
Thank you very, very much. Thank you, Shelly, too, for putting this important, important panel together.
Hi. My name is Meredith Malloy and I am speaking on behalf of YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter 395 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. School. YouthBuild Philadelphia is an innovative academic and job-training program for young adults to who 6 have dropped out of high school. 7 Students enrolled in the program rebuild 8 abandoned houses for low-income families 9 and refurbish computers for community 10 organizations. 11 As the young people develop 12 these valuable job skills, they also work 13 toward earning a high school diploma. 14 Students spend half their time on the 15 hands-on vocational work site and the 16 other half of their time in the classroom 17 where they receive individualized 18 instruction and life skills counseling. 19 Our unique program design draws 20 on the assets inherent in these young 21 people and provides at-risk, out-of-school youth an opportunity to become a positive workforce reversing urban blight, while rebuilding their own lives at the same time. 396 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Each year YouthBuild receives about four times as many applications as there are slots. We provide each student with academic instruction, job training, case management, in-house mentoring, life skills training, leadership development and career development. The program does not end with earning a high school diploma. We offer real supports and opportunities that create clear pathways for future success. Programs like YouthBuild are essential for out-of-school youth in our community. The level of service that YouthBuild provides cannot be sustained without a financial commitment from our community. When we commit resources to our youth, we make a wise investment in the community that reaps benefits for years to come. Young people come to YouthBuild depleted. They have significant needs that we are fortunately able to meet. Our ability to meet these needs of the 397 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. students so that they can become productive citizens requires an investment from the community. It's an investment that pays significant dividends. Since 1992, more than 1,200 young adults have graduated from the program. YouthBuild students have rebuilt 61 homes for low-income families and donated 1,000 refurbished computers to community organizations and schools. Over 80 percent of our last three graduating classes have gone on to meaningful full-time jobs or continued their education. These outcomes are impressive, but they do not come cheap. YouthBuild has successfully leveraged public funding from local, state and federal sources as well as private investments to achieve these results, and we urge your continued support for programs like YouthBuild. Thank you.
Thank you. Well, I will be brief, no matter how long it takes. My name is Shelly Yanoff and I am Executive Director of Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth. We are the major trial advocacy organization in the region. You've heard a lot about young people who drop out and its impact on all of us. This is the story: There are 13,000 kids every year, 13,000 that we lose. If we're going to survive as a city with a future, we have to change that. There are things Council can and should do that can make a difference. The first is what you are doing right now, and that's pay attention to it. If 13,000 people were infected with a virus, they would close the bridges. We'd be a quarantined city. It would have been noticed. We would have 399 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. had lots of newspaper headlines. We would have done something about it. We would have found the money and found the solutions, because we were quarantined. Well, there are 13,000 kids every year who we're losing, and we can do a whole lot better than we have. It's not the School District's job alone. It's not the City's job alone. It's not the community's job alone. It's not the parents' job alone. It's not the students' job alone. It's all of our jobs. Most of the kids who dropped out said they had no one to talk with about school and school problems or about their own problems. Many said that their absences were not even noticed when they dropped out. Some who dropped out had been in foster care during high school. Between 70 and 80 percent of these kids drop out. You, the City, can do something about that. These kids are 400 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. known to us. You can provide DHS with support to place social workers in high schools to provide the counseling and help these youth need. We urge you to support DHS in taking responsibility for these young people who age out of care and drop out. You can support funding for follow-up with these youth and funding for reentry. We also urge you to look again at what's happening to teen parents. They give birth, they leave school. Again, many of these young women, almost 70 percent, will drop out if they have a baby during high school. Many times they would like to return, but do not have anyone helping them put the parenting, caring, school pieces together. These young women go to prenatal care. They need someone to help connect them back to school. We have in the City, in the City Health Department, in the hospitals, teams of nurses and other community 401 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. outreach programs that support new parents. Many of these are evidence-based services. They have good records. But there's not enough of them to pay special attention to teens and their needs to connect back to schools. Council could support such a team in the health centers in collaboration with local hospitals and outreach programs. You have supported those outreach programs over the years. You can make this a special initiative. The support would help two generations. We know that students who fall behind stay behind, and so we urge you to support a variety of efforts to assist these kids the minute they start to fall behind, whether it's in 6th grade, as Brian has discussed when kids are having trouble with math and reading and starting behavior problems, or in 8th grade or 9th grade. We know what to do. We just don't do it because we don't dedicate the dollars to it. You can do 402 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. this. Keeping clear of all of the other educational laws, you can do this as a city. We need many new pathways, and Courtney has described many of them that the School District has started, but she's also told you that there are huge waiting lists, and these are waiting lists of the kids that have been awakened. There's a gazillion kids out there that we haven't knocked on their doors that don't know to come in.
So you know what it's like to work with kids who are invisible. These kids have been invisible, and we've got to make them visible and respond to them. If ever there was a time to put more supports in our schools so that all youth could be engaged and connected, this time is here. Yet, once again, we're facing rounds of cuts, making regular school less and less inviting to many of the disaffected and disconnected youth. We are awfully glad that the cuts 403 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that have been proposed are less than they could have been, but we didn't start with a fat cushion in this District. We need to spend more in our schools at the city, state and federal levels. We know what to do. We need to continue supporting successful projects that look out for kids, especially those that are in transition, like the reintegration project which supports educational transition for youth returning from placement. We need to provide extra supports for kids in 6th and 8th and 9th grades. The problem of youth not finishing high school is not new. It's not even particularly escalating. However, its impact is new. We do not have jobs anymore for kids who do not have a high school education. If they don't have jobs, they're going to get into trouble. If they get into trouble, we're going to end up paying a whole lot in many different ways for it. So it 404 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. makes sense for us as a city, as a community and as a school district to figure out how we can collaborate to really make a change, to really make a U-turn, in these kids' lives, and in doing so, we will have made a U-turn in Philadelphia's hopes for a better future. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you all for your very, very important testimony and your patience. Thank you all.
Thank you. Madam Chair, one more thing, Sheila Simmons from our office was going to talk for a minute, just a minute, on the City budget, School District budget.
All right. As she's speaking, we want Vernard Johnson, Southeast Pennsylvania Network for Family Health and Education and Welfare to know he'll be next. Did we hear from Carol Fixman?
No. She had to 405 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. leave.
Is there anyone here from Citywide Student Government? (No response.)
I guess Jerome Chaney, President of Nu-Juice, had to leave. I know Eric Ward, Keeping It Real, CEO, had to leave. What about John Hopkins University? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: She had to leave.
Oh, it's all so very sad. So if er schedule it in two bits, then you miss the Mayor and the CEO of the School District and you feel disrespected. If we do it like this, it's called we lose, we lose. Is Courtney Collins-Shapiro here?
We had her. What about Build the Bridge International? 406 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. (No response.)
Nobody knows? Natalie Payne. Okay. Mr. Johnson, thank you. Ms. Simmons, begin, and then Mr. Johnson.
Yes. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. 3 million budget deficit. It did so through a number of painful cuts to programs, services and personnel that had been instituted to improve the education of our children. Chief among the losses is the apparent lack of a commitment to smaller class size. In a May 2003 staff memo, school CEO, Paul Vallas, called reducing class size our number one priority. Finally, he said, We are eliminating the practice of staff reductions in a school due to downward leveling. Such efforts, 407 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. he said, would reduce teacher turnover and increase the District's ability to attract and retain highly qualified teachers. The result of such targeted attention was, in part, more stable learning environments and double digit test score improvements. SRC Chairman James Nevels cited the Council of Great City Schools in calling our gains among the largest posted by any of the 50 biggest urban school systems in the country. Among the reasons to which he attributed such results, he pointed to improving conditions for teachers by reducing class sizes in 2,300 classrooms and by adding 225 academic coaches who help teachers tackle deficiencies in literacy, math and science. " ROI is a finance term meaning return on investment, the comparison of the money earned on an investment to the amount of 408 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. money invested. Now, what are we investing and in what areas? We call on you to provide more funding. For kindergarten to the third grade, the national norm for class size is 25. In Philadelphia, the School District has capped class sizes at 30 students for kindergarten to third grade and 33 students in upper grades, and the PFT did testify that we now have 172 overcrowded classes. Numerous studies have pointed out the advantages of smaller class size. Chief among them is the well-known Project STAR, which is Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio, that looked at 7,000 students in 75 schools over five years. Some students were in classrooms with 13 to 17 students per teacher, and others remained in standard size classes with 22 to 25 teachers. That report found that students in smaller classes in K through 3 earned significantly higher scores on basic 409 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. skill tests in all four years and across all types of schools. The students from the smaller classes continued to achieve at higher rates than their peers, even after they returned to standard size classes in grades 4 and beyond. In kindergarten, 55 percent of the students who scored in the top ten percent on standardized measures came from the small classes. Once those students moved to the third grade, 78 percent of the top-scoring students were from the small class group. The effects of this study were largest for students in inner city classes. Other reports have shown that when teachers spent time with students, test scores rose and discipline problems dropped. Recent census data showed that nearly one in four Philadelphians live in poverty. We know that a quality education for our children and future workforce is the greatest determinant in 410 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. escaping this fate. We as a community need to set some priorities for what we envision of our public educational system. If many of these priorities are determined by funding, then it is time that we as a community fully explore the directions of that funding, including the expenses involved in educational management organizations, alternative disciplinary schools and any number of private contracts. While PCCY encourages such exploration, we also stress that no 15 further studies are needed to confirm the positive impact of smaller class sizes. Every day that our children spend in this scientifically discouraged environment is a missed opportunity towards improving our children's future and our own. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Ms. Simmons. Thank you. Mr. Johnson, thank you. Thank 411 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you for bringing the youngsters with you and for your work over the years in this field. Thank you.
They just wanted to know if you was providing supper for tonight. How are you, Councilwoman?
Good. I really after being here all day, I really don't have a whole lot more to add to what's been said, other than a few things. I believe the District could use more dollars to support the expansion of some of its efforts, and specifically I'm just going to talk about attendance, truancy, dropout, that kind of thing. If you don't mind, can I bring this forward? These are some students, about 50 students, that we've worked with over the last three or four years. They're students from a school in South Philadelphia. 412 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. If you look at where the names should be, I blanked the names out. You'll see unexcused absences and then you'll see excused and VOS, means out of school suspensions, the number of days that were assigned to those suspensions, and I believe there's a category for lateness. We don't talk about lateness very much. Maybe I'll spend some time talking about lateness. And if you'll flip the page, you'll see that the unexcused absences get progressively worse to the point that one student -- that was from grades K to 7 -- to the point that one student almost had an entire year, 340-some days, of unexcused absences. Nothing new, Councilwoman. We've been talking about, you and I and other people, have been talking about this for years. I mean, literally years. When Secretary of Welfare Richman was the Health Commissioner, I remember a meeting that we had in the Caucus Room with her 413 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. and the DHS Commissioner talking about this issue.
We remember when we even talked about trying to get places for them near University City High School, whether they should be emancipated adults and places for them to stay, all these issues.
The scripture says there's nothing new under the sun and I suppose there isn't.
Sometimes I wonder if I've been doing this too long, because we've seen all this come before us before. And this is not new, but the impact is more extreme in our neighborhoods. Programs come and go, Councilwoman, as you know. When the dollars are there, the programs are 414 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. there. When the dollars are gone, the programs are gone. And so I'd just like to stress that you hear very little about supports to the family. We heard about services to children in schools, programs to children in schools. Our families are in dire need of support. The Secretary of Education was just out in the hallway with one of my students trying to see how she can link services, and I appreciate that, trying to see how she can link services to a student of mine. I think that when the School District looks for homeless students, they look in shelters. That's not the only place people are homeless. You can be homeless living with your aunt, living with your uncle, but it's not your home and you're not in control of it, and that's what many of our students are facing. I now have about 25 students in 415 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. cyber schools that we're managing every day in my wife's non-profit. These children stay home three days a week, they come to us two days a week. We have students from grade levels through 12. 7 Most of them are undercredited, most of them. The students that spoke at the table today were not undercredited, but they're struggling, and if we don't watch out, pretty soon they won't be able to find a way into the classroom. So we put them in cyber schools at the suggestion of their parents. We provide them with the social supports, and we do that from our own resources. And I just wanted to say that a lot of the agencies -- and I preface that by saying agencies -- that provide our children and families with services come from outside of the community where the children live, and that the community-based organizations that are in those neighborhoods, I think we need to be looking at those organizations and 416 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. seeing how we could put a collaborative partnership together with those organizations and the William Penn Foundation so that those organizations that are going to provide the service with or without money -- and I think sometimes people take that for granted, but with -- I'm glad you're looking at that, because some of those organizations are listed right there in that book. That's a report that we gave to the School District last year. We gave it to the School Reform Commission. I know each and every one of those students by name, see them on the street. And 90 percent of those students still have poor attendance. And we gave that information to the SRC last school term. It's nice to talk about new programs, but what are we going to do with those students and far more students than those that I'm sure are in our classrooms every day? The Mayor talks about bringing students back into 417 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. buildings. What are we going to do with them when they get back into the building? Are they going to run the hall? Are they going to go to class? Are they not going to go to class? So those are the kinds of things that I wanted to come forward and talk about today. And I'm kind of wiped out listening to all this other testimony, but I really wanted to stay to the end so I can hear other people. And someone from the School District is here, so I'm sure that she'll go back and talk about some of the things I'm saying.
Thank you. So they go 6:00 to 8:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
No. It's interesting, because they can wake up at 8:00 in the morning or 12:00 in the afternoon and still get their lessons. They come to us from roughly 9 o'clock in the morning and they stay with us until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. 418 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Our focus with them is, we do their health and we do their gym with them, their physical education, but we also talk to them about work, about careers. So now we're working with the Free Library downtown. On January the 11th in the Education Department, they're going to do a seminar for our children and their families on how to enter into a career. A lot of our kids got to go to work. We're talking about college, and that's great, and we can talk about trade school, and that's great.
They're between the ages of, I'd say, 13 and up. We have several girls from Girls High that got into situations and stopped going to school. So we have all kind of kids. All of them are bright. Just because they stay home and they're truant don't mean they're not bright. A lot of our kids are facing and trying to deal with 419 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. adult situations. If we could train and work with the parents and work with the families to handle their business, as the kids might say, so then the kids could handle their business, and that's going to school, and keeping them out of adult responsibilities and adult business and free them up so they could pay attention to themselves, then that's what we try to do. And so I'm not picking us up and putting anybody else down, but our children -- Ms. Bussey wants to go to work. She wants to help her family. And I've been here not too much in the recent years, but in the past years I've come in and the Health Department comes in and says that they have entry-level positions that go unfilled. We went over with my students here, we went over to the Municipal Courts to the Human Resource Department at the Municipal Courts and we talked to the lady over there, and she said we're going to have a lot of people retiring 420 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. over the next four or five years, but the challenge where the kids coming from the Philadelphia public school system for them is that they can't type 50 words a minute. They can't take words in constructive letter, because if they could do that, then there may be some entry-level position right here in government that our children could fill. So the only thing I'm saying is that a lot of our kids want to go to work. I didn't hear anybody really talk about work today. And, Councilwoman, you can keep that and make a copy of it and I can just get it --
I can get it -- what's today? Monday. I can get it Thursday when I come down. Is that okay?
Because I think 421 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. maybe that would be helpful to you. So if you have a student from kindergarten to 6th grade who has missed 200, 300 days of school, just unexcused, that family needs some support. Now, that's when the parent was more responsible to getting them to school, right? So now the student goes to 7th and 8th grade. We expect him to go to school on his own without stopping at the corner store? When the students come to school late, I'd take Mr. Vallas up on the idea about visiting schools. Go to any high school. When students are late, they get put into the auditorium. They miss first period class, and they go to class. There's an opportunity where you have them right there to begin to do something with them with the dollars and the staff that you have right there. So I'm not going to take any more time, but I just wanted to come in here and say that -- tomorrow we're 422 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. meeting with Brenda Taylor, a group of -- Ms. Taylor, she wasn't here today. She runs the Office of Specialized Services, is the provider of special services for the School District. We're meeting with her tomorrow and we're going to create a network over the next year of community-based providers. Those providers are -- the Boards of Directors are made up of people who live in the neighborhood where the organization provides services and have an operating budget of less than a quarter million dollars. Not very many organizations that were before you today fit that mold. So Ms. Taylor wants to meet with those groups so she can talk to them and get an understanding of what kind of services that they provide to see how we could develop a relationship. And all these dollars don't have to come from the School District. Because I heard somebody else up there today talk about there are other organizations out here 423 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. that have funding to do some of this work, and if we went and got them and brought them in, maybe we could convince them to pay more attention to children and families of school-age children and their families, is what I'm trying to say. So Greg Nelson and -- you understand what I'm saying? And Dr. Jones down there on Broad Street and his wife, Yvonne, who has a letter in there of Urban Solutions. There are all kinds of groups that are out here. The bureaucracy is such that sometimes those groups don't want to get involved with the School District. They don't always want money; it's just the bureaucracy. And I'm not saying organizations don't need money. I know you're not taking my words wrong, but there are a lot of people out here who would like to help the School District. The School District has to learn how to be a partner, not always be 424 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. the lead player, but be a partner at the table. And so I'm hoping that with your guidance and support and the guidance and support of your colleagues and people at the state level that we might be able to pull together a coalition -- maybe the Secretary could work with us -- to pull together a neighborhood-based type of coalition so that you can -- I used to chair Healthy Start. I'll close with this: I was the Chair of Healthy Start. We sit here and we talk about infant mortality. We talk about babies being born to teenagers, yet Lee Tolbert was the -- Francis Walker were Chairs before I was the Chair and yet you don't see those folks in schools the way they want to be in schools. So maybe there's a way that coming out of this meeting and going into the first of the year we can work together to bring the community-based providers and families together with people like this so that the William Penn 425 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC.
Foundation sitting at the table, well, let's spread it around, because when all those folks go home at night -- I don't know any other way to say it -- those organizations, the Tom Henrys of the world are at the Kingsessing Recreation Centers trying to figure out what to do. So when the Mayor says that schools should be open on holidays, so should the rec centers.
The rec centers are -- you understand what I'm -- without beating up on anybody, do you understand what I'm saying?
Yes, indeed. I remember when we had hearings on health emergencies after we had a child, a seven-year-old, die at McMichael School from bacterial meningitis. We had those hearings.
That's right. We had the library hearings with 426 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Mr. Hornbeck when Hornbeck was here. The people from the library came. I had another group of students. We took those pictures with Hornbeck. We talked about how the City and the School District could work together to -- if you can't have a library in every school, why can't at least one or two high schools in every region have the type of library that offers students and families the opportunity to come in and do research and read together and those kind of things? So maybe the day is gone that you can't have a library in every -- I don't know how you run a school without a library.
Well, I'll tell you, during those hearings, we talked about if a school didn't have a library, there should be a school across the street from a library, like maybe Turner with Blanche Nixon Library. We know we have the Lucien E. Blackwell Regional Library on 52nd Street. But out 427 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. of that, one good thing happened. When we had an opportunity to fight for reopened libraries and books, the University of Pennsylvania worked with us at Lea School, but it was an initiative we had to fight for. We said, Okay, do we want to save the Alexander School? Then okay, then help us at Henry C. Lea School and help us to fix up a library, reopen a library, staff it, get books and then the school then could commit to a librarian. And they helped us also do a garden outside. So it's a battle.
But it does come down to what my philosophy is, as is obviously yours, that each of us has to be a committee of one to improve our community. If we see a need, we have to step in.
Whether it is a library or a garden or helping a senior, making sure a kid who 428 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. doesn't have things to do during day has some place and somebody who cares about him or her --
Last week my students -- and Mr. Bruce is back there -- we went out to Swarthmore College and we had an impromptu meeting with their President of Swarthmore College and then we met with the Director of Swarthmore's civic and social responsibility clinic, I'll call it. And we went out there because I had -- of all the students that we have in the cyber school, half of them are homeless. And so I thought it would be a good opportunity maybe to encourage my students to work real hard, and the harder they worked, with the right kind 429 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. of supports, maybe we could get them into Upward Bound this summer. It was interesting, because the Upward Bound program is being changed now. So you had to have a 2.5 grade point average to be considered for Upward Bound, and now some universities are pulling out and colleges are pulling out because the criteria has been changed. The criteria is now 1.9 GPA and back. And the reason why Swarthmore is pulling out is because there's not enough dollars, so they say, in the program that would allow them to deal with the social issues that a student with a D average or below would bring to the table, and at the same time, the students that the government know benefited from Upward Bound, the 2.5 students and above, that program has now been cut. So we're just facing cuts all over the place. I mean, everywhere. And so any way you can help us to -- I'll close with this -- put a task force 430 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. together with the Secretary, I'm sure, that would bring us to the table as community people and parents, maybe that's the thing I'm looking for coming to these hearings. Thank you, Councilwoman.
Thank you. We're happy to work with you. Thank you all. Is Mr. Matthew Zakochany still here, High School for Creative and Performing Arts? (No response.)
What about Carmen Rivera or Carmen Lebron? (No response.)
Pat Baltimore, would you like to testify? Not today. We're talking about the truancy rate in schools, the dropout rate in schools and the overall budget cuts. We have a $73.3 million budget cut. So we're talking about schools today.
Okay. Yeah. I 431 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. know the schools.
All right. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? Yes, ma'am. Come forward. Thank you. We have enjoyed such excellent testimony and you've all been great and wonderful and patient. Thank you.
Thank you for letting me speak. I appreciate the opportunity.
My name is Cecilia Thompson and I am the Secretary for the organization called The Philadelphia Right to Education Task Force, and in addition to that, I'm a 432 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. parent of a child with autism, who is in the Philadelphia school system. I won't be long. Briefly about the Task Force, in 1972, the Park consent decree required a local task force in every intermediate unit. Philadelphia is unique in that it's a school district, but it also operates as an intermediate unit as well, which is kind of a good and bad, because if it was a separate intermediate unit, it would advocate programs for children with special needs, but because it acts as a school district, it kind of wears two hats. 8 percent of children who drop out are children with disabilities, and, unfortunately, there aren't any programs to recapture them in the school population, because a lot of those 433 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. children do have some type of developmental delays where their behaviors manifest in such a way that is very disruptive to the class, especially if they don't have a TSS through their insurance or support staff through the School District. So, unfortunately, the staff, be it teachers and administrators of that particular school, don't go after them because that's one less behavior that they have to put up with in that school. So there isn't anything to even recapture those students at this point in time. And also in reference to the charter schools, the Office of Specialized Services does fund some funding to the charter schools, but because there is no way to audit -- for example, there are children who are supposed to be in charter schools that are supposed to receive special education monies, but those children aren't in school but they still receive the money. 434 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. So I feel that before Mr. Vallas and the SRC and those powers that be cut some funding, they should try to recover funding that was due to the School District from the charter schools before taking any step to cut any funding. But nevertheless, Philadelphia serves a higher number of students with disability compared to the rest of the state. Although we have more students identified with disabilities, we have far fewer kids included in general education and the least restrictive environment. Students in Philadelphia need more support in order to be educated and make progress on the general education curriculum. Proposed cuts to school nurses concern us, when more children receiving medical management come to school with chronic conditions and medical advancements have allowed severely disabled students to attend public schools more than ever before. School 435 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. nurses are also required to monitor Section 504 plans, and that's accommodations for children who are eligible for special education services. Cuts to counselors who have taken on truancy, mental health, case management and special education liaison roles are unacceptable, and students with emotional disabilities need more, not less, support. Development and monitoring IEPs, which are Individual Education Plans, is a critical and time-consuming task. Due process is even more time consuming and costly, yet when there are not enough personnel, due process will continue to balloon out of control. Any reduction in professional non-teaching staff will most certainly impact special education programs. A tremendous number of students with disabilities depend on specialized transportation and well-trained transportation staff. Even though the 436 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Individuals With Disability Act requires reasonable travel times, stories tell of routes exceeding acceptable times. And as a side note, in the School District of Philadelphia, an acceptable time to be on the bus is one hour. We cannot imagine how devastating transportation cuts would be.
Class size, important to the appropriate education of all students, is critical for students with disabilities. Differentiating instruction and including students with disabilities to ensure access to the general curriculum is nearly impossible with oversized classes. This often forces children into more restrictive settings. 8 percent dropout rate for children with disabilities vividly displays more hurdles we must overcome. Our middle schools need more supports to ensure students stay in school, including remedial math and 437 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. reading. And everything else was said, but I didn't hear anything about services for children with special needs. And although legally they can't be cut, everything that affects regular children affects students with disabilities. Cutting art programs, a lot of children with autism have an innate gift for drawing and if you cut the art program because the principal has to make a decision to get a literacy teacher because she's under the pressure or he's under the pressure of getting up AYP, then not only does that art program or that music program affect regular children but it also affects children with disabilities, because those are the programs that they really need to enrich their overall lives and make education fun for them. That's all I wanted to say, and I do appreciate the opportunity to speak.
Thank 438 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you, Ms. Thompson. We agree this is a very important area and an underserved area. We work a lot -- we've had hearings in past years on children who take Ritalin, Prozac and other behavior-altering drugs, and albeit they don't fit into being autistic children, they fit into children who have no 10 special program designated. All schools, charter and regular schools, take this population and try to fit them into the general realm of their everyday experience, and it's very, very difficult to ask, as you have indicated, already busy teachers to make sure that there's a nurse on that given day or to make sure the designated program or person that provides nursing services or medical services or medication is in place. It's a whole, as you've indicated, really unserved realm that has to be dealt with, in addition to just underserved children who are often poor and don't have family and community 439 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. support systems. But I hope that you will give your phone number to my staff and your address so that we maintain contact with you, and we want to work with you more closely on this issue.
And just one more thing that just popped into my head. I haven't seen what Mr. Vallas submitted to the Council, but I know transportation was still one of those areas that was considering being cut. One of those was the bus matrons. Now, I know the bus matrons can't possibly make that kind of money where they have to be cut, because the driver cannot drive the bus and watch the kids at the same time. There's only one bus matron on the bus, in addition to their considering reevaluating all children with special needs who have on their IEP that they need somebody on the bus with them. For example, my son runs up and down on the bus, and I don't want the alternative for him to be strapped on 440 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. a bus because you're trying to save money. He needs somebody to sit with him just in case his behaviors get out of control. And that's the same for any child with autism or a developmental delay where they can have a moment where their behaviors are out of control. I'm just afraid that trying to save a couple dollars because Mr. Vallas made an oopsie in the budget that now these kids are strapped and restrained and sometimes the restraints can be too tight and you can just have horror stories go on from there. And in addition, as I close, I think with the School of the Future, it's a good idea and I do like it, but there were some mix-up in the funding. The person in charge of that was supposed to take the paperwork to the Bill Gates Foundation where they would have funded it fully, and I believe that was a funding of $100 million, but instead they took the paperwork to the Microsoft 441 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Corporation, which does not fund the school. All they do is give you unlimited technical support. I heard what he said, but if that flub had not happened, we wouldn't probably be having these hearings.
Well, we'll make a copy of the information he gave to us available to you. And I just checked as you were speaking and it says that bussing is not to be cut, but the whole issue of what individual principals consider is certainly worthy of consideration. But we'll make this available to you as well.
Thank you. The Joint Committees on Education and Finance will stand in recess. Thank you everyone who has testified, who is here, who is still in the building and can hear the rest of this testimony. It's been very, very 442 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. important, and we will be in touch. Thank you. (Joint Committees on Finance and Education adjourned at 5:05 p.m.) - - - 443 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on December 11, 2006, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)