Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has removed the Philadelphia School Reform Commission chairman and replaced him with a veteran education leader who shares his vision of restoring cuts to the struggling district.
The Democratic governor, who took office in January, announced on March 1 he was appointing Marjorie Neff, a career educator with 40 years' experience, to chair the state-appointed commission established in December 2001 to provide oversight of Philadelphia public schools. She replaces Bill Green, who had been appointed last year by former governor Tom Corbett, a week after the panel approved five new charter schools.
“The School District of Philadelphia is in dire financial straits and our children are being put at a disadvantage as a result of misguided cuts and poor decisions,” said Wolf in a statement announcing Neff's appointment. “The district was forced to make major cutbacks in transportation, security, and janitorial services just to open on time last year. We must make new investments in education and provide a fresh path forward for Philadelphia’s schools."
Neff was most recently principal of the Julia R. Masterman School in Philadelphia, which serves 1,200 students in grades 5-12. She has also served as principal of Samuel Powel Elementary School in West Philadelphia and prior to that was a longtime teacher whose experience included teaching learning disabled students at Fulton School in Germantown, Pa.
"Marjorie has dedicated her entire career to education, and she shares my vision for investing in public education so our children have the resources they need to succeed in a modern economy," said Wolf. "I am confident that Marjorie will be able to engage in a collaborative way the different interests involved in leading the school district and it will be refreshing to have an educator who understands the needs of our schools as chair. I look forward to working with her to restore cuts and reverse the public education deficit in Philadelphia.”
The Philadelphia School District was downgraded by Moody's Investors Service last August to Ba3 from Ba2 due to a weakened ability to deliver core services stemming from program cuts and losing students to charter schools. The district secured more than $200 million in new revenues this year, but is still struggling to stabilize its operations with a negative 4% fund balance and a five-year plan that is underfunded by at least $374 million, according to a Feb. 23 Moody's report.
