By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania state lawmakers are mulling an emergency request by the Philadelphia school district for an additional $120 million, but one local nonprofit group believes any extra  money for the district should come with strings attached.

The Philadelphia School Partnership believes lawmakers should require the school district to give more hiring authority to school principals, grant raises to teachers based on performance, and require teachers to work an extra hour every day before approving the extra funding, NewsWorks.org reports.

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Philadelphia school officials are scrambling to fill a $304 million budget deficit for next school year and are asking for help from the state, as well as the city and the teachers union in the form of concessions.

Some help is apparently on the way.

“Private discussions among city, state and school district officials have centered on several potential funding sources, including a $2-a-pack cigarette tax in Philadelphia and the release of money previously designated to pay the federal Department of Health and Human Services,” NewsWorks.org reports.

“In addition, the plan calls for making permanent the additional 1 percent sales tax in Philadelphia that was due to expire next year,” according to the site.

Not everyone is thrilled about government helping the school district until the district starts doing things differently.

Philadelphia School Partnership Executive Director Mark Gleason told the news site the group’s proposal is designed to appeal to Republicans and other lawmakers hesitant about sending extra cash to the troubled district.

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Philadelphia school officials have asked the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers for the same type of changes that the Partnership proposed, as well as $130 million in financial concessions, but the union has been staunchly opposed to any give-backs.

The Partnership is correct is demanding more for the taxpayers’ money. If school officials continue to operate the same way they have for years, with the union calling the shots and bleeding the district financially, it won’t be long before they’re back, begging for another financial bailout.

If state lawmakers send emergency cash to Philadelphia schools, they should not only ensure it’s spent on important academic reforms, but should strip the union contract of any unnecessary expenses that aren’t directly tied to student instruction.

If PFT officials won’t voluntarily agree to the changes, the state could follow the lead of other urban districts like Detroit and install an emergency financial manager with the power to cancel union contracts.

Certainly everyone can agree the $304 million deficit qualifies as a financial emergency.