Philadelphia public school parents and local advocacy groups protest Oct. 15, 2014, on the front steps of the school district building. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Note: Statement from PFT President Jerry Jordan on Ruling from PA Commonwealth Court
PHILADELPHIA–“The PA Commonwealth Court today handed down a decision that affirms what we have been saying for months: The School Reform Commission’s move last October to unilaterally cancel the PFT contract was an unjust and blatant violation. Today’s decision is a victory for collective bargaining and the notion that contracts between parties should be negotiated, not imposed.
“The PFT is calling on the school district to immediately resume bargaining sessions with the union. It’s time to redirect the energy and resources wasted on litigation to negotiating a contract that will ensure our schoolchildren and educators are given the best possible tools for teaching and learning.”
Click here to view the full ruling from PA Commonwealth Court
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Commonwealth Court judges ruled Thursday that the School Reform Commission does not have the power to cancel union contracts, restoring health-care cuts that were to save the Philadelphia schools $54 million annually.
The unanimous ruling appeared to strike down a core operating belief of the SRC.
PFT president Jerry Jordan called the decision “a very big victory” that affirmed the union’s position that contracts must be negotiated, not imposed, and that the state law that created the SRC did not give it the power to wipe away collective bargaining.
Chairman Bill Green said that the SRC and its attorneys had not yet decided whether to appeal the ruling, but that some action could come next week.
“I am disappointed, and I disagree with the court’s conclusion,” Green said. “I don’t understand the court’s logic.”
Absent state Supreme Court action reversing the decision, the district would be in an $80 million hole for next school year and at least that every year going forward, Green said, since fixed costs are rising more rapidly than revenue. The district already was facing a deficit of about $30 million in the next fiscal year.
School District spokesman Fernando Gallard said that if the ruling stands, the $15 million advanced to schools after the PFT contract was canceled might also have to be made up through cuts this school year.
The state Supreme Court last year declined to take a case that made similar arguments when the SRC chose to bypass seniority in teacher assignments, layoffs, and recalls.
“I don’t have any reason to believe they would take this case on appeal,” Jordan said of the Supreme Court.
In the Commonwealth Court decision, Judge Patricia A. McCullough wrote for a five-judge panel, acknowledging the district’s grave financial state and praising the SRC for “numerous difficult decisions” made to achieve firmer fiscal footing.
However, the opinion concluded, “glaringly absent” from the law “is a reference to a provision which expressly gives the SRC the right to cancel” a collective bargaining agreement.
To do so, the court said, the legislature would need to grant such power expressly.
The teachers’ union and district held more than 100 bargaining sessions over 21 months, but were still far apart when the SRC attempted to cancel the contract on Oct. 6, 2014.
The PFT has said it put millions in concessions on the table; the district has said that the union did not offer nearly enough in recurring savings.
The district had hoped to make changes to 11,200 PFT members’ health care, effective Dec. 15, but the court wrangling meant it has not seen a penny in savings, though it has funneled some of the money it had planned on saving into classrooms.
Were the changes allowed to go forward, teachers, counselors, secretaries, and other workers would pay between roughly $72 and $800 a month depending on their salary, plan, and family status.
They do not currently pay for their health-care benefits.
After the ruling was issued, Mayor Nutter said in a statement that it was time to “move forward,” and urged the PFT and SRC to “do the work needed to reach agreement on a contract that provides for the changes needed to educate better our children and that also respects the teachers in their work.”
Both sides have said they would return to the bargaining table, but there have been no sessions since last summer, and none are scheduled.
In a statement Thursday night, Gov. Wolf said, “The court’s decision provides an opportunity to turn the page and avoid counterproductive actions that distract from the need for all parties to stabilize the finances of Philadelphia’s schools.”
House Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny), in town to urge district officials to approve new charter schools, said that he agreed with the SRC’s reading of the law, and thought it was right to cancel the teachers’ contract.
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s got to have the ultimate decision here,” Turzai said.
State Sen. Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia, Democratic chairman of the Appropriations Committee, applauded the ruling.
“I think the court was consistent with what the intent of the original legislation was,” Hughes said.
That the judges were unanimous – even emphatic – was important, Hughes said.
“It shows clearly that the School Reform Commission was way out of bounds,” he said.
