Yesterday, the School District of Philadelphia cut 175 central office jobs. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The Philadelphia School District yesterday axed 175 administrative positions – from department heads to secretaries – to help close a $73 million shortfall in the district’s $2.04 billion budget.

In all, 81 staffers are out of a job. Forty-one vacant jobs will not be filled, and 53 employees are eligible to return to schools as teachers or counselors.

Those who take school jobs may face pay cuts, and will likely fill positions held by long-term substitutes, officials said.

I spent part of the day today making calls to some of the people who were instrumental to the planning process of SLA to see if they still had jobs. The district lost some amazing people yesterday, and some folks who I have come to trust, believe in and like are now out of a job.

The School District of Philadelphia is underfunded, and whatever one may think about AYP and test scores, they are the coin of the realm, and the district has seen incredible gains over the past five years. There’s been a 400% increase in schools making AYP, and we lost 134 people yesterday (and some of the vacant jobs needed to be filled) because of a 3% budget overrun. And we have larger class sizes than any surrounding district, we pay teachers (and principals) less than any surrounding district, and we face every challenge that an urban district can face.

And it just got harder.

When will our country decide that our city schools need funding?