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Hobson’s Choice is one where you really have no choice at all. Mr. Hobson, welcome to the City of Philadelphia and its public school system.
Let us describe the main players in this unfolding drama. We have Dr. Arlene Ackerman, superintendant of schools. To describe Ackerman as imperious would be a serious understatement. Her public persona is part Julius Caesar and part Donald Trump. She is about as popular in Philadelphia as New York Mets’ fans. And her budget is in similar shape as the Mets’ organization, not so much in the number (after all, Ackerman didn’t invest school funds with Bernie Madoff), but in the dire peril of it all. Philadelphia’s schools are about $630 million in the hole.
It would be all too easy to cast Ackerman as the villain (I think she enjoys the role too much to give her that satisfaction). There has been slow, but steady progress in the test scores of her public schools. Several of those schools are crown jewels that are as good if not better than expensive area private schools But it also is fair to say those schools had an academic record of excellence long before Ackerman arrived.
In the interest of fairness, public schools are struggling around the nation as the poor economy has forced draconian budget cuts. Apparently, Ackerman is the only one who didn’t see the hard times coming. Perhaps she is too busy being a diligent public servant to watch TV news or read newspapers. More likely she believed she could merely cite the horrendous effects of budget cuts on her school system and the mayor and City Council would roll over. After all, why should she have to build a political consensus to get folks on her side so she could effectively deal with the crisis? Nobody is going to tell her how to manage her school budget. Apparently, City Controller Alan Butkovitz wants to do just that.
Last week, Butkovitz indicated in a statement that his office found problems in an audit of the district. He wants Ackerman’s school district to be required to present a five-year financial plan to an independent authority to either corroborate or disprove his findings and make recommendations. You would think that prerequisite for asking for more money would be to assure taxpayers the funds will be well spent. Butkovitz thinks with a board overseeing the district’s finances, maybe it would have escaped the financial hole it is in.
Isn’t that what the School Reform Commission is supposed to do? Maybe economic circumstances are such that the district’s financial problems were inevitable. But Ackerman has to make her case to be credible, especially when she is making big, big bucks.
Credibility is apparently not a concern of Mayor Michael Nutter. The mayor, you’ll remember, recently won the nomination to run for a second term. Nutter had token opposition from Milton Street. The token, in this sense, meaning you wouldn’t have bet a token that Street would win. Getting the Philadelphia Democratic Party nomination is tantamount to winning the November election against a Republican Party that should hold its meetings in a South Broad Street funeral home, it being embalmed so long ago. Nutter had made a pledge of no new taxes. Unless he also does not watch TV, read the newspapers or for that matter take calls from Ackerman, he had to know Philadelphia schools were in deep doo-doo.
Apparently the mayor is a fan of the old western movies where the cavalry rides to the rescue at the last moment. That Nutter allowed himself to be stampeded by the superintendant into such an amazing flip-flop on taxes makes me think he has a secret tattoo of George H. W. Bush somewhere on his body. The mayor’s solution is a property tax increase, a tax on sweet beverages and a parking rate increase. His proposal hit Council like poop hitting a fan.
Republicans holler the mayor couldn’t get away with tax increases if this wasn’t a one-party town. Duh! Whose fault is that? Maybe it’s because the leadership of the local Republican Party has been playing footsies with the Dems so long they should get a room already.
At a time when the city’s taxes are too high and its tax base too small, Nutter has presented Council with the classic Hobson’s Choice (you never thought we would make the connection, did you?). Let the schools fail or drive more taxpayers out of the city. That seems to be the message from Ackerman, passed on by Nutter, and dumped onto Council’s lap. Just like that. No real time for debate or to create political support among voters. Welcome to the world of Philly politics!
There is an axiom in Philadelphia politics in recent years. If you think a problem is as bad as it gets, our politicians can make it worse. Faced with a school budget crisis, Philadelphia’s best and brightest have managed to screw it up even worse. The superintendant has failed us because she not only hasn’t made her case, she doesn’t think she needs to make it. Nutter has failed us because he didn’t force her to make it before running to Council.
Hobson didn’t have much of a choice. Neither does City Council. Neither do the taxpayers. SPR
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