Title
Urging the School Reform Commission, Superintendent William Hite, and the School District of Philadelphia to actively negotiate a mutually agreeable new contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers that provides adequate staffing of our schools, acknowledges the contributions and sacrifices of teachers and other staff, and respects both seniority and traditional payment structures, like step pay.
Body
WHEREAS, There has been no collective bargaining agreement between the School District of Philadelphia ("SDP") and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers ("PFT") since the end of the mutually agreed upon one-year extension of the most recent contract, which had been set to expire in August 2012; and
WHEREAS, SDP rejected PFT's offer in August 2013 to save millions of dollars through health care benefit reductions and a one-year wage freeze; and
WHEREAS, On October 6, 2014, the School Reform Commission ("SRC") announced its intention to unilaterally vitiate the continuing contract terms, a decision that has been rejected by every court to consider it to date, save the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which is expected to rule this June; and
WHEREAS, SDP has engaged in an costly legal strategy, spending $16 million defending its course of action at every court level, as well as pouring money into universally appealing arbitration losses over teacher firings and demotions that ignored seniority, with back pay owed now running into the millions of dollars; and
WHEREAS, Dozens of schools have been operating without a full-time counselor and more than half of schools lack a full-time certified school nurse, 17 of which have such a nurse one day a week or less; and
WHEREAS, Faculty have not had a cost of living adjustment or experiential increases since August 2012, ultimately having lost at least $100 million in wages and frozen step increases and exacerbating the preexisting disparity with suburban teachers; and
WHEREA...
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