Council Won’t Put SRC Vote to Public
The School Reform Commission will survive a little while longer, at least.
The City Council on Thursday declined to send voters a non-binding resolution calling on the state to dissolve the SRC and return control of Philly schools to the city. The measure would’ve been on the November ballot.
The primary sponsor of the bill, Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell, said she did not think she had the two-thirds vote required to put the nonbinding resolution on the ballot.
“Their concerns were that if we didn’t get the cigarette tax, they would have said it’s because we introduced this. . . . They thought we should not create a controversy with the state,” Blackwell said.
The Pennsylvania Legislature convenes next week, and is expected to resolve the cigarette issue — one way or another — fairly “quickly,” officials say.
