Sen. Hughes outraged at crumbling city schools
(ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent Hughes (center) tours Locke Elementary at 4550 Haverford Ave., Philadelphia on Friday morning, Jan. 29, 2016. He is looking into conditions of Philadelphia public school buildings. Also shown are principal Katherine Carter, (left) and Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
The legislator also asked the state Education Department to audit the Philadelphia School District.
Hughes' announcement was, in part, a response to a boiler explosion this month at Edmonds Elementary School in East Mount Airy, which left a maintenance employee critically injured.
"That was a very serious situation, and it could have been a whole lot worse," said Hughes, the Democratic Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He said he'd like for hearings to be held next week.
Hughes said the budget impasse in Harrisburg is hampering efforts to maintain conditions in public schools across the state. The School District estimated several years ago that it would cost $4 billion to repair all of the structural problems at the city's more than 200 public schools.
"We're about to lose a full year of any additional money coming to school districts in Pennsylvania," he said. "We are in a situation where we are not in a position to provide a 21st-century educational environment."
Hughes; Jerry Jordan, teachers union president; and Otis Hackney, the education officer for Mayor Kenney, inspected a couple of classrooms at Locke Elementary, where heat still had not been completely restored, as well as the basement boiler. Hughes' mother worked at the West Philadelphia school decades ago.
Jordan said it would be a mistake to think that students don't recognize the deteriorating physical conditions of their schools.
"Don't think for one second that children don't understand what we're saying to them when we allow these conditions to exist," he said.
Hughes, whose district includes parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County, said he was outraged at the funding discrepancy between city and suburban schools. A recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that the city district spends $12,570 per student. Hughes said some suburban districts spend twice that amount.
Hughes said he wants to encourage Gov. Wolf to continue pushing for more education funding in the budget battle. "We're going to say, 'Don't compromise on the education of our children,' " Hughes said.
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Staff writer Kristen Graham contributed to this article.
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