The district is bankrupt. Its schools remain open only because teachers have agreed to work without pay. The district has blamed its situation on state funding cuts and the fact that it has lost almost half its students to charter schools.
Corbett said his administration was in the midst of discussions as to how to respond to the situation. Though his administration has already told the district it would not provide more funding, Corbett said various scenarios were in the mix, including creating a body like Philadelphia's School Reform Commission to run the district.
Asked whether a takeover was in the works, Corbett said that "could well be the case in Chester Upland, someone coming in and saying, 'You have to get your fiscal house in order; you can't be leaving millions of dollars of bills in a desk somewhere.' "
He added that Chester Upland officials were "complaining they don't have the money, but unfortunately, they didn't manage their money."
Thomas Persing, Chester Upland's acting assistant superintendent, said in response: "The governor has been ill-informed or misinformed about the true situation in Chester Upland. The board inherited a problem over which they had little or no control and have been made a scapegoat in this matter."
As for another round of state control, he said, "We had 16 years of state control that left us with close to $20 million in deficits. If anything, our financial condition was even worse because of it."
The lawsuit, filed Thursday morning against the state and legislative leaders, paints a very different picture from that outlined by Corbett.
