Only days after Philadelphia Mayor John Street and Gov. Mark Schweiker finally reached a partial agreement on how to revive the city's ailing public school system, labor unions and community activists will ask the state Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a law that allows state takeovers of public schools.
With the school system hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, a teacher shortage and more than half of students failing in key subjects, Schweiker and Street have been trying to reach a solution on how best to aid the schools.
The mayor, who is vehemently opposed to school privatization, and the governor agreed last Tuesday not to privatize the entire district, but some schools may still be taken over by a private company, likely Edison Schools Inc.
The activists plan to file a lawsuit this week, most likely today. For full coverage check tomorrow's Daily Pennsylvanian or log onto dailypennsylvanian.com.
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