Legal battle between SRC and PFT heads to Commonwealth Court

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

Updated | 2:30 p.m.

The legal battle over whether the School Reform Commission can impose benefit changes on teachers has shifted to Commonwealth Court, which could hear arguments in the dispute as early as December.

On Monday, Common Pleas Court Judge Nina Wright Padilla made an injunction permanent that delays any benefit changes until the matter is resolved in court, and the District appealed that ruling to Commonwealth Court.

Both sides said they are pleased by the outcome of the latest legal maneuvers.

The District says that the legal proceedings will accelerate a final resolution in court of the extent of the SRC’s powers. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers says the ruling points the parties back to the bargaining table, a move that the District says it remains open to.

Even with an accelerated consideration of the case, it is unlikely that the SRC will be able to impose benefit changes on Dec. 15, which was its intention. The planned open-enrollment period for PFT members to choose new benefit plans is on hold.

While the resolution of this case plays out, the PFT has agreed to pause its motions for expedited arbitration and a ruling by the state Labor Relations Board.

"This is a great step," said District spokesman Fernando Gallard. "It allows us to go directly to Commonwealth Court and have it decide the very important issues that are on the table." The District has always sought to have the issue decided in Commonwealth Court rather than locally through labor arbitration and in Common Pleas Court.

In a statement, PFT president Jerry Jordan said, "This ruling emphasizes what the PFT has been saying all along: these and other economic issues need to be worked out at the bargaining table, not the courtroom.

"As I have said before, the PFT is ready to return to the table to negotiate a contract with the School District."

The PFT and the District jointly asked Padilla to make the injunction permanent, paving the way for the District’s appeal. It also probably sets up this case as the one in which the all-important issue of the scope of the SRC’s power is likely to be decided in Commonwealth Court.

Said Jordan: "We find it outrageous that the district has wasted so much time and money trying to litigate its way out of honoring the PFT contract. The energy and resources spent attempting an end-around on the PFT would be put to much better use both in the classroom and by engaging in meaningful contract talks.

"The PFT has already put $24 million in healthcare cost savings on the table. Surely that is a solid foundation on which to try to build some consensus through good faith negotiations."