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 The Philadelphia School Reform Commission, formed in 2001 as part
of a state takeover of the city's education system due to financial
problems and low test scores, is slated to vote on applications for
39 charter schools.
The district already has 86 charter institutions, public schools
that operate independently and offer an alternative to schools run
by the local school district. Proponents say charters can help get
students out of low-performing schools, while critics blame them for
worsening the district's finances.
The American Federation of Teachers has fought against the nation's
expansion of mostly non-unionized charter schools, including in
Philadelphia. The AFT says some of the schools fail and that they
lack accountability and transparency.
Some Pennsylvania power players see it differently.
"There is an opportunity here to save a lot of kids," said
Pennsylvania House of Representatives Speaker Mike Turzai, a
Republican and a charter school advocate, in an interview.
 RAPID RISE IN ENROLLMENT
Despite the lack of new charter licenses in years, these schools
have grown rapidly in Pennsylvania as the district has turned over
some under-performing schools to charter operators and existing
charters have expanded enrollment.
Charter school enrollment has doubled since 2007, when the they
served 32,000 students. They now educate 30 percent, or 64,000 of
the Philadelphia system's 207,000 students, according to district
figures.
They also account for about a third, or $766.7 million, of the
district's $2.5 billion budget. That is an uptick from 2011, when
charters took up $430 million, or 18 percent of the budget,
according to district budget documents.
Opponents warn that approving new charter seats could deny resources
to existing public schools. When students transfer into charter
schools, they essentially take their funding with them but leave the
public schools stuck with the fixed costs like building maintenance
and central administration.
Charters receive about $10,000 a year for each student they enroll,
the same as the district spends on students in other schools. But
according to an analysis by the Boston Consulting Group, each
charter seat costs the district on average about $7,000 in costs it
cannot shed.
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"It's a loss and it needs to be funded. It has to be taken from
somewhere," said Joseph Dworetzky, a former member of the School
Reform Commission. "You end up with students and families not
transferring to charter schools having a reduction in what is being
spent on their education."
While charter growth is not the only cost driver in the district's
budget, education reformers acknowledged that financial pressures
could deter the commission from approving new charters.
Unlike most school boards, the commission does not have taxing
authority and must rely on appropriations from the state and city to
cover shortfalls in property tax receipts.
A spokesman for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, says
Wolf opposes new charters.
"The Wolf administration believes the SRC must stabilize, not
worsen, the district's finances," said Wolf's press secretary Jeff
Sheridan. "It cannot spend money it does not have for new charters
or other expenses."
Wolf beat incumbent Republican Governor Tom Corbett in November in
part because some voters said Corbett had underfunded the state's
public schools.
(Reporting by Daniel Kelley in Philadelphia; Editing by Hilary Russ
in New York and Cynthia Osterman)
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