Wolf to let bill to fund education lapse into state law
Teachers will lose layoff protections
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday that he will allow an education funding bill to become law even though it contains a provision stripping seniority protection from teachers in layoffs that has angered an important part of his electoral coalition.
The bill, known as the education code, authorizes spending for public school districts, but it also was packed with policy changes for public schools.
“Gov. Wolf believes components of this bill are important: delaying the Keystone Exams, expanding opioid education in schools, curbing ‘lunch shaming,’ and providing additional funding to help distressed school districts,” his spokesman, J.J. Abbott, said in a statement. “Though there are components of the bill that he has concerns about, particularly Republican plans around teacher evaluation and termination, he
will allow it to become law but withhold his signature.”
The bill will become law Monday, ending a fourmonth budget impasse. Teachers unions expressed dismay over the layoff language, which relies on evaluations they believe are arbitrary.
Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said he was “really disappointed” in the governor’s decision.
“It’s a very big concern,” Mr. Jordan said. “It’s based on a flawed evaluation system. It’s very subjective and arbitrary, not a fair way to evaluate teachers.”
Under the evaluation system, Mr. Jordan said, teachers who were judged exemplary by their principals can end up with “needs improvement” ratings overall because they work in struggling schools. Such teachers, could, in theory, be laid off if performance evaluations are used as the criteria.
Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers president Nina Esposito-Visgitis wasn’t available for an interview because of member meetings on the outstanding teachers contract, a union spokeswoman said. A Pennsylvania representative from the American Federation of Teachers couldn’t be reached.
A Pittsburgh Public Schools spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The education code also has a clause that delays the requirements that high school students pass standardized tests known as the Keystone Exams to graduate. It also prohibits “lunch shaming” by requiring schools to provide lunch to students regardless of whether they owe money.
Mr. Wolf, a Democrat, signed other budget bills earlier this week, including one that authorizes borrowing against the state’s landmark settlement with tobacco companies — though that still needs approval from the Commonwealth Financing Authority — and another that widely expands gambling in the state.
Legislators passed in late June a nearly $32 billion spending plan and jostled for nearly four months over how to pay for it. During that time, the state experienced a credit downgrade.