They should sell tickets to this one.
Forget the MMA.
This could wind up being Pennsylvania's own version of a steel-cage match.
On the line is the future of the Chester Upland School District.
The battle pits Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf vs. one of the state's biggest contributors to Republican campaign coffers.
That would be Vahan Gureghian, who manages Chester Community Charter School, the largest in the state and one that until recently had lured more than half the students in the Chester Upland School District.
Yesterday Wolf, along with Education Secretary Pedro Rivera, rolled out the latest plan to salvage the perennially broke Chester Upland School District.
And the key to the plan is a push in Delaware County Court to reduce reimbursements to charter schools.
I had a chance to talk to Wolf, and he made it clear his belief that without drastic action, schools in Chester may not open their doors in September.
And even if they are able to open, Wolf questioned their ability to stay open without change.
Key to that change is reducing the reimbursements to the charters, which amounted to 46 percent of district expenditures.
The district, which has been under state control - and under water financially - for years, is currently staring at a deficit in the neighborhood of $23 million.
Wolf says changing the reimbursement for charter school students could actually wipe out the deficit, providing a savings of $24.7 million in the 2015-16 school year.
In particular, Wolf is zeroing in on the cost of special education students, which make up a large number of the charter students. Right now Chester Upland pays more than $40,000 for every special education student that attends a charter school. Wolf's plan banks on the recommendation of a bipartisan state funding education commission, which would realign the reimbursement to a little more than $16,000 per student.
As you can imagine, this isn't sitting especially well with charter school proponents.
The moves was blasted as "a blatant first step in killing charter-school operations at the expense of children," according to the Pennsylvania Coalition on Public Charter Schools.
Actually, it won't be up to Wolf or the charter schools. The move will be ruled on by a Delaware County judge, where the state filed the financial recovery plan on Tuesday.
The plan also includes a forensic audit of the district's finances, and appointment of a turnaround specialist.
But make no mistake. This is a fight over the growing presence - and financial implications - of charter schools.
For a long time, many Chester residents wondered if the state plan actually was to slowly strangle the public school district and eventually turn over all the district schools to the charters.
The Chester Upland School District has been under some form of state control since 1990.
This might be their last stand.
Call it Tom Wolf vs. the Charters. Sell tickets. They could probably make a big dent in the Chester Upland deficit with the proceeds.
Comments