The school district for the towns of Chester and Upland in southeastern Pennsylvania is broke. Well, it will be by the end of the month. Teachers are currently working without pay while officials attempt to work toward a solution to the district's $20 million of debt.
As if this miserable situation needed a further complication, the local charter school (which also receives state funding) educates roughly 50% of the area's students and is suing the district for unpaid bills - bills the district obviously can't pay. While the charter school counterpart can provide laptops to students, the public schools are struggling to keep the lights on.
The issue here is that the district is poor. According to the New York Times, Chester Upland receives 70% of their financing from the state - local taxes just aren't cutting it. A nearby wealthier district require only 10% of their budget to be state funded, because the median income is roughly $50,000 higher. While the district has made huge cuts to their teaching force and critical programs like art and languages, the charter school has remained unaffected. These two schools co-exist in the same depressed district, yet one triumphs as the other flounders.
There is discussion of dissolving the district. I don't know exactly what that would mean for the families living in the towns this district serves, but I can't imagine it being anything good. At the end of the day, there is no reason children shouldn't be educated simply because their parents make less money than the parents two towns away. Pennsylvania has a lot to figure out before the month is up.
This is a sad story. I feel sorry for the dear students.Good story.
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