For those of you in the Philadelphia area, the School District has been in the news considerably as of late. First, Superintendant Ackerman's salary was made public, as she made a base of $348K and over $40K in bonuses last year. Then she was caught cancelling a legitimate bid process after an award to then give the contract (no-bid) to a friend's firm. When challenged by State Representatives (the Philadelphia Schools are state-controlled as the School Board was disbanded in 2002), she made a very public racial argument about it. Then, the news of a $600M budget deficit surfaced at the School District, prompting many voters to demand the firings of the Superintendant and her whole administration. However, when citizen's groups demanded her head, the Mayor and City Council defended her.
Why?
Rising test scores.
Well, it seems that the recent trend of rising test scores at the Philadelphia School District may have been linked to what has been recently investigated in Atlanta, a widespread cheating ring.
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