A Pennsylvania judge ruled last week that the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, which runs the city’s public schools, does not have the authority to unilaterally cancel the teachers’ union contract and impose new terms.
Judge Patricia A. McCullough issued a permanent injunction against the school district, barring it from implementing a policy that would have required members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to pay for their health benefits.
In the ruling, the judge said that nothing—whether implied or specific—in the state’s legislative history on collective bargaining or the statutes that the commission cited in its arguments granted it the authority to take the actions that it did on Oct. 6 when it voted to change the union contract.
