Oct 10, 2014 4 min read

Editorial voices from newspapers around the country as compiled by the Associated Press:

Let’s be clear. Philadelphia’s public school teachers are not responsible for the financial mess the district has found itself in.

If you want to know who is to blame, look to Harrisburg. Look to a governor who cut nearly $1 billion from basic education aid in his first year in office and now has the gall to call himself the “education governor.” Look to the Legislature, which has refused to face reality and admit that local schools – not just Philadelphia but the state’s 499 other districts – need more state aid.

In an ideal world, the state would own up to its obligations, come up with a new and fair funding formula, and ease the pain of districts across the state by increasing the state’s share from the historic low it is at now.

But, we do not live in an ideal world. We live in the real world, where solutions come hard and sacrifices are asked even of those not to blame for the schools’ plight.

Now, Superintendent William Hite has turned to the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to do its share.

The School Reform Commission voted to cancel the PFT contract with the district and impose a new provision dealing with health and welfare costs. The changes will bring in $44 million during the rest of this school year and up to $60 million in subsequent years. Hite is taking that money and putting it right back into the schools, restoring some of the vital programs and personnel cut in previous years.

Sacrifices must be made, even by teachers. Is it fair? No. But it is the right thing to do.

The widening Ebola epidemic in West Africa have led to calls for the United States to screen travelers when they reach American airports. That is a reasonable defensive tactic if done judiciously.

The American health care system needs to react with greater vigilance when cases do reach this country. Top American health officials are strongly opposed, with good reason, to take the more extreme step of banning all travel to the United States from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the epidemic is concentrated, as several prominent Republicans have recommended. That could actually hamper the battle to contain the epidemic abroad in part by leaving Americans who are risking their lives to contain the epidemic stranded in Africa with no way to return home. If volunteer workers can’t return home, they may elect not to go in the first place, thus weakening the fight against the epidemic.

Until the epidemic in West Africa is controlled, it remains possible, even likely, that another Ebola case would reach this country. The American health care system should be prepared to move quickly, treat the victim and trace and isolate all people the patient had contact with.

Drone technology is cool, but it’s also pretty creepy.

The first introduction most Americans got to remotely operated drones was when they began being used to strike military targets in the Middle East. Now, smaller versions of those drones are popping up all over – including at Kansas University’s Memorial Stadium, before the Texas-KU football game Sept. 27.

The KU Public Safety Office is justifiably concerned about the unauthorized drone that flew over the stadium for about 15 minutes. Officials focused their concern on the fact that the drone could have interfered with an authorized flight by a group of planes that entertained the pregame crowd with a display of multicolored smoke. However, that is only one of many concerns the public might have about drones flying over the stadium – and who knows where else.

Federal regulations prohibit the use of drones for non-military purposes, but that obviously isn’t stopping people from using drones in unauthorized ways.

The recent incident at KU and the drones reported at other football stadiums probably are completely harmless, but they point out the potential these devices have to threaten the safety and privacy of both individuals and large crowds anywhere in the country. It’s something that federal regulators need to get a handle on sooner rather than later.