Money For Stadiums But Not For Schools

By Steve Lopez/Philadelphia

No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks. When they sing the song of summer in Philadelphia, they aren't kidding. Across much of the U.S. these days, summer school is in great demand for kids who flunk standardized tests and must either pull up their scores or repeat a grade. But summer school costs money, and with rare exceptions over the past 10 years, Philly's public schools haven't had it.

Not that the 740 students of Willard Elementary are broken up about it. The K-4 school is so old and overcrowded that Marion Stern teaches reading in a converted bathroom; Riel Sbar teaches special-needs kids in a hallway; and two other classes have been pushed into dusty corners of the basement. The acting principal, Dianne Scott, wears sneakers to hike to annexes No. 8 and No. 3, which are more than four blocks away, but hip waders would have been better during a storm on May 24. The playground flooded, and she had to pull two classes out of trailers that looked like houseboats.

Despite the bleak outlook for public schools, civic spirit is running high in Philadelphia if you measure it another way. Thanks to a $160 million package of public financing approved by the state legislature in February, the Eagles and Phillies will soon get new stadiums. Across the state in Pittsburgh, where the public schools anticipate a $30 million shortfall in the next budget, the Pirates and Steelers will also get new homes, with the state kicking in $160 million toward the cost.

Amanda Kaplan, a senior at Masterman High in Philadelphia, wonders how the state can keep telling students there's no more money for education, "but then they find it for stadiums." Jessicah Smith, a senior at West Philadelphia High, has no problem with new stadiums, "but I'm against the idea of using public money." In December they and about 30 other students stood on the steps of city hall and put their own spin on The Twelve Days of Christmas: "Five budget cuts, four broken bathrooms, three schools a-rotting, two books per classroom and a stadium for [Eagles owner] Jeffrey Lurie."

What the students don't understand is that across America, team owners are the new children of poverty. With mighty tantrums, the owners threaten to blow town if they don't get new stadiums. Skeptics in Connecticut got wise earlier this year and put the kibosh on a plan to lure the New England Patriots to Hartford with $375 million in subsidies for a new ball park.

In Pennsylvania, state Representative John Lawless, a Republican from suburban Philadelphia, denounces the sub- sidies for that city's stadiums as "corporate welfare" and adds, "We're building playgrounds for millionaires who have no loyalty to the city." Playgrounds the average Joe can't afford to get into, as ticket prices soar.

Sam Katz, a candidate for mayor in Philadelphia, makes a living arranging financing for new stadiums around the country. They've provided a boost to the municipal psyche in places like Baltimore, Md., and Cleveland, Ohio, he says. But from an economic standpoint, he admits, "I don't think you can make a good case for the level of subsidy that's gone into professional sports in this country."

Pat Crawford, spokesperson for Pittsburgh public schools, doesn't want the issue framed as stadiums vs. schools. "The state has enough to do both," she says. In Philadelphia, 80% of students are poor enough to have something in common with the team owners: they, too, qualify for a free lunch. Unfortunately, they don't have a lunchroom to eat it in at Willard. Maybe they can use the new sky boxes on nongame days.

--By Steve Lopez/Philadelphia