Parents sue state over underfunded Philly schools

Seven parents of children in Philadelphia's embattled public school system filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court today contending that the Pennsylvania Department of Education's failure to investigate reports of "massive curriculum deficiencies" violated the law.

Philly parents have submitted more than 825 complaints to PDE through myphillyschools.com since September 2013, when the District began its first year of operation under the "Doomsday Budget." Though the state has governed Philly schools since the 2001 state takeover, the schools have been subjected to massive budget cuts since Republican Gov. Tom Corbett took office in 2011. This is the fourth school year of financial crisis.

"PDE, which has governed Philadelphia public schools since 2001, is required to investigate these formal complaints," according to a statement from the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, which is representing the parents, and the group Parents United for Public Education. "But after one year, the vast majority of parents have received only a generic form letter or no response at all."

The complaint includes reports of "alarming levels of overcrowding such that teachers can no longer walk between desks to interact with individual students; increasingly limited curricular offerings; a distressing lack of counselors, and squalid and insufficient toilet facilities."

The Law Center says that a separate lawsuit, which will challenge the constitutionality of underfunding districts throughout Pennsylvania, "is forthcoming."

Parents United leader Helen Gym called on parents to continue submitting complaints to myphillyschools.com.

"The breadth of complaints we've received prove that the state must investigate the quality of education in the School District of Philadelphia," said Gym, in a statement. "It is simply unacceptable for the state to ignore the claims of hundreds of parents representing 40 percent of District schools."