Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20150222

Harrisburg said you better approve allot. They said five. 39 charters approved. The Philadelphia School partnership said well give you 35 million, 25 toward charters, 10 million to the Public Schools now its taking its marbles and going home. Did the src having not done anymore charters since 2007 did they make the right call with that . They were in a impossible position. They did the best they could do, they dealt with the reality that additional charters impose additional cost on the School Districts which cant afford it. But on the on the other hand theres a strong constituency auto there the republican legislature, frankly a lot of parents who want more choices and they dont care what it cost the school district. He was very clear youve come to me asking for 200 million. You must be kidding. The republican ledge light tur its going legislature its going to be a fight about increasing the education appropriation, we got a Fair Funding Commission thats looking into formula to give more money to the city. Onethird of the students in the Philadelphia School district are in Charter Schools. The problem also, stems from the failure of the legislature to fund the charters and School Districts are upset about their share of the proportion. There needs to be Charter School reform if its going to stay. Is there a chip in their for Governor Wolf. You change the funding formula maybe ill stop being against this, is this a bargaining chip . I dont think it is, wolf is against it. Im pro charter. Theres a narrative out there thats thats making it a corporate takeover by coke brothers. There are other parents whole get out of these schools that will never perform. How does the process work, will we find in a matter of months we have a lot of more. I think there will be a few more. Some of of these are linked, one got in and the others are kipp are the same formula they use. Why would you take only one out of three, because of some quota. Until may there are things they are negotiating, you can do it, but you have to move the location, so the final things here are not clear. What were you going to say ajay. If you look at it in the past 10 years 225 increase in Charter Schools nationally. 115 increase in the number of chapter schools that opened and long line of people waiting to get into charters. But the notion is it a charter is the only way to reform education thats a fallacy. Because there are under performing Public Schools that have turned around at lower coast. Src position the minute they were enacted with bill green specifically they were treated like cattle. Most wanted milk out of them, others were hungry for beef. There was one person on the src that went o39 i dont think thats a good faith argument. 039. Her argument she felt none of the applications have met the standard. Wow. Okay. I want to go to your point ajay. If you look at the stats on the city technically no new charter also were open, the expansion of the renaissance schools since 2007, a third of 60,000 kids are in Charter Schools and more are trying to get in. As i thought about this and read about this is this thing to do to blow up the model all altogether. There a way to make the whole thing a charter and make it in its own Way Public School system. What about fighting for good schools period. There are under performing public and Charter Schools. Why not fight for real standards and merit reporter there should be better teachers and paying them more and providing the right resource. Money is not the only panasea. Is this something that a kip and mastery are doing a better job. Is there a known out fit thats doing it differently. Its different because its out of passion and strategy and good people come in, the most talented people coming in and coming up with a new model of education. You would have the same examples i could point to on the Public School side. Im a form he were teacher they are few and far between. Thats not the atmosphere in the unusual Public Schools. Its not because the union and the monopolies drive that. With the students you cant do much with the under performing students. Charter schools they are not there. They tried the all charter model in new orleans after katrina. A lot of people thought charters were going to be the silver bullets that solve all problems. As we gain experience with charters, we know thats not true. There are charters that have failed its kind of are a mixed bag and therefore well have Public Schools . Philadelphia for a long time. We have to find the right balance between Public Schools and charters. Not to disagree with ajay, but i will, are we sure we want to turn the issue of the education over to the federal government . I think we need to very very careful with that. Were having enough trouble with the state animal the relationship with the School Districts. Its funding. They will not give you funding without control. Before we move on to the next topic. When you think about the Public School that did this, not the war horses, masterman and others that have been great when you you thinking about. Masterman south berry park, bow bodine, charter boys latin. They have the administration and the passion of the teachers and top down bring to the table they have a robust board and Development Committee they create a Community Around them from bring in from as policy and support from all levels. That doesnt have to be privately run. It could be a Public School. I agree its not perfect the Public School system, i think giving up on it will deprive many unprivileged folks the opportunity to get a good education. They are the folks that went to went that want to go to a Charter School. Look at the Public Schools its a failure. Eu89 it takes Extraordinary People to get past the media mediocre. Segment William Williams lets talk about him Governor Wolf put a more tore yum on the execution moratorium of death death executions. Youre a law ro if he professor who is going to win this. The d. A. Said this moratorium has no basis in law its unconstitutional and Governor Wolf said as governor i have the power to reprieve and i and i can grant reprieves on a casebycase basis and i am announcing policy in advance. When i saw the story i wonder what Seth Williams is running for. Else thinking about the u. S he is thinking about the u. S. Senate race because Kathleen Kane is out of the of the picture. He is thinking about this. Saying that is going to help him. Number one the governor did not consult with Law Enforcement officials, so you got the District Association leaders upset with him you got the state troopers upset with him. Bottom line there was no consultation notwithstanding the legal implications which are not going to get resolved anytime soon, the fact of the matter we have only put three people to death since the 19770s and 199. Does it build up another set of people like we have in the open records case that have problems with consultation and problems with whether or not. You brought up williams and the political state senator Vincent Hughes has been asked. Joe sestak sailed im running for said im running as a democrat. They want to square off against pat toomey. This is looking like its going to a great race, how does the landscape look to you guys, who do you think will stick it out and show up for the rails. Joe sestak else a driven guy, i think toomey is in a much better position than the last. I get the feeling that people are urging williams to go for it. Theres a long line of people that are waiting for seth to announce thats interested in the senate. How would he do . I think he would do well. He is 48 years old and dynamic had a great run as d. A. And headlines a lot this year. Headlines a lot. A and great life story if you look at his life story and he is presentable, i think he would be a for middible candidate. How about hughes . No tale out of school here, joe sestak is not overwhelmingly popular with the democratic establishment. Lets get that fact out there. Number two its going to take 15 to 20 million to win the u. S. Senate race so youre talking about prodigious fundraising and contributions. Sestak didnt stop running after he lost the first time. I have amoral aversion to death penalties its cost us 20 times more to execute people than to put them in prison. In pennsylvania, the Supreme Court made that penalty since then only 3. 551 executions in texas since 1976. Were number 3 execution per capita. Weve got two minutes, im going to take a turn. Ladies prerogative here. I want to talk about something on the local scene. We see a mud fight going on in the 7th district. They are backing many morales an ally of angel cruz. What does it mean in the larger sense for nelson diaz who has made a big deal about being a viable candidate. Do you thinker they will rally around him . I dont think it has big complications for the diaz campaign one way or the another. The africanamerican communities has all intentions that didnt unite them behind the canned details for barack obama for candidacy of barack obama. Philadelphia is a one party city. Somebody will accept. I think everybody and anybody will accept. Stephanie singer is trying to get herself real elected as a rival antimachine candidate. Will reverend Keith Goodman be allowed on the ballot. Many experts say he does not need the 3 year residence requirement. Philadelphia home rule charter said you have to live in the city of philadelphia for three years. Reverend goodman has except it was a while ago so the question is, does awhile ago count somebody who was born in philadelphia and lived until age 3 and wants to move to philadelphia and run does that count. Interesting legal question. Interesting pay the bills question, i would love to keep talking, but we have to take a commercial break and back to inside story. 14 irresistible flavors. One for the mood. One for the moment. Each one can make every day more delicious than the last. The taste could only be baileys. The experience could only be yours. Baileys coffee creamers. This is the one. Welcome back im Tamala Edwards this is inside story. Lets talk about something in education. 16 of 49 law professors in the law school at penn have signed on to the letter saying they dont like the schools new sexual crimes policy, things have changed, the Obama Administration said we want to make these changes, they say you can have a lawyer but they cant be involved in the process and the skewed never gets a chance to confront the accuser thats not how i remember this how can you say thats true. Accusers wont stand up. Professors are saying this is going to have to comfort the accused and not protect the accuser, you guys are administrators you deal with this. The department of education is putting on pressure on universities to come up with procedures that make it easy for people to bring charges and differential to the accusers. If you tilt the process toward the accuser you naturally are tilting toward the accused. The restrictions on the lawyers and preponderance of the evidence rule so the standard is not yard its a preponderance of the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. The inability to confront the accuser, clash with our notion of justice but at the same time the universities cant ignore the pressure because so much funding comes from the federal government. The accused could sue the university if the standard in the real world why would you kick he me out of school instead of doing something about it. As someone who spent his entire career in the university setting. Number one we didnt do this for a long time. Theres too much drinking and drug use and looking the other way. When there are issues many universities want to keep this inside. Were not going to get it in the public and keep it inside. I agree with jan. We have to make sure the accuser rights and potential accusees rights are maintained. Jan made a good point. When you cant confront the accuser thats as basic as it gets. Thats a dramatic thing given Sexual Assault and rape, et cetera. Were supposed to to treat it as another crime. If we bring in the ideas this is very difficult to do its very difficult to be accused of this. Lets bring in something else, the views on it may be shifting thats marijuana issue thats a issue in the state of new jersey. Theres a coalition that has grown up, Police Prosecutors and medics and politics say they think state policy should change that marijuana should be regulated and legalized and were wasting too much thyme and money when they think liquor is more of an issue. Lets legalize it like colorado or other places. Chris christie doesnt seem like he would move forward on this. Do you think this this is something that a new governor would move forward. Look, ive come around on this issue. Before just moral reasons and my upbringing, i thought this would be a tabu topic but when you look at the other states doing you look at the impact of alcohol versus marijuana you realize its not a gateway drug its for recreational or purposes. You see colorado making money and other states are doing you want to be progressive and do it as well. You want a share of that. Whats happen people are not the sky is falling when they hear this. I think the evidence is mixed even the gateway drug issue maybe that phrase is too reefer madness for people. Theres a lot of evidence ascertain christie has cited it. More americans are now okay with this when they were not in the past. Every year in new jersey, the legal system has to deal with 21,000 marijuana arrests which takes up an enormous amount of Law Enforcement and legal manpower. Thats the reality the other reality Chris Christie is running for president so nothing will happen. A fascinating story on the nacts nexts New York Times said he may be blowing it. Jeb bush is locking up the money. I think its over all. He is boxed in, scot walker and jeb bush are the top tier and christie are not in tier two in my view. He seems to think else going to the gusto. Its delusional, maybe thats what you have to do to run for president. Chris kunes writing a letter on south africa, protesting their import policy with chickens does it matter . It brings to the attention theres a trade imbalance when you have india and south africa blocking import for delaware and massive export. Let me say the state of delaware has less than a million people, every year they produce 200 million chickens. All right. Remember owes owes. We have to wrap it up. Well come back to inside story. vo at jennieo, we heard of a place in iowa where every thursday people ride ten miles for tacos. We thought wed show up and surprise them with a better kind of taco, made with jennieo ground turkey, cooked thoroughly to 165. mom id feed my kids turkey tacos over regular tacos any day. woman i think that theyre light and theyre just fresh tasting. vo its time for a better taco. kid the tacos tonight were pretty much perfect. vo make the switch. Look for jennieo ground turkey at a store near you. Welcome back time to wrap up with our insiders inside stories of the week. Theres been a lot of talk about the housing boom. Its a rental boom because people are not making the connection, 1 point trillion dollars is the student debt people have. Most millennials cant have homes because of the student debt, but its a good boom for philadelphia. We are getting rally ready for the Charter Schools debate. Teach for america is a great group of kids who volunteer to work on campuses, they are under attack and College Campuses are saying dont let them come here, corporate interest youre a tool of bill gates thats why i revolta whole notion, these are kids who want to teach. They are the best. She has laundry up and ready to fight, she is Kathleen Kane she has lawyers defending her. A former president judge of the super court and former law clerk for a state Supreme Court justice laundry up and ready to fight. The reason Kathleen Kane had to higher all this legal help her problems are mounting. This week it was revealed in the litigation before the Supreme Court, the grand jury is prepared to charge her with criminal conspiracy in addition to the other charges including purjury. You guys were so much fun this week it was an honor to be here and honor to have you here, well see you next sunday for inside story im Tamala Edwards. Im nydia han along with eva pilgrim. Coming up next on action news, an icy morning has given way to a milder day. It wont last long, we have the exclusive accuweather sevenday forecast. Were not the only ones dealing with another blast of winter weather. Some parts of the country could see up to two feet of snow or more. Were taking you to hollywood for a live preview of the oscars. Next on action news. Good afternoon, it is sunday february 22 im nydia han along with eva pilgrim. Heres some of the stories were following on action news, cleanup continues across the region after a messy mix of snow and ice. Lower temperatures are on tap fo