Dive Brief:

• Pennsylvania's Chester Upland School District, located outside of Philadelphia, will start classes next week but lacks the funds to pay its teachers.
• The local teacher union voted last Thursday to work anyway, knowing that they’ll likely work without pay indefinitely.
• It’s the second time teachers have agreed to work without pay in the cash-strapped district, which is teetering on the edge of financial collapse.

Dive Insight:

The district has struggled with its finances for decades, but in recent years, the situation has reached a crisis point. Observers attribute much of the current floundering to the increased payments the district has had to make to the growing charter sector, as state law requires districts to pay substantial sums to private operators who run charter schools within districts. Nearly half of Chester Upland’s students now attend charters. 

The district’s original plan, which was backed by Gov. Tom Wolf, involved cutting the amount of special education funds it disbursed to charters and the dollars it paid to online charter operators. Much of the charter-related aspects of that plan were gutted by a judge this week.

Still, it’s a rare instance of a district and its union working in concert. Elsewhere, budget crises have often pitted unions against district officials. But few locations have faced the kind of looming crisis Chester Upland does; the state-appointed receiver said the district could face dissolution if the situation is not resolved.