Confronting a District’s Survival

Profile

On a visit home during college, Jay Badams announced to his favorite high school English teacher that he was going to put aside pre-med studies to become an English teacher. To his dismay, his former teacher dissuaded him. “Live a little first,” he told Badams.

He adhered. Badams became an Army medic for three years with the 82nd airborne division, then took a sales position with Eastman Kodak. By the time he earned his credentials to teach special education at age 32 in the same Erie, Pa., district he now leads as superintendent, it was with a variety of worldly experiences.

“My discovery of just how important education is to the functioning of all aspects of our society and our economy is what led me back to education,” he says.

Badams credits his rise through the education ranks to his intellectual curiosity, which was piqued during his foray into business and the military. “In every job, I kept asking questions and seeking ways to improve our programs,” he says. “Sometimes the one who brings the idea ends up getting the work.”

After a brief stint as superintendent in the adjacent Wattsburg Area School District, Badams returned to Erie as assistant superintendent in early 2009 and within 18 months had moved into the top position. With the promotion came the responsibility of ensuring an adequate education in the face of insufficient funding. Erie’s median household income of $33,000, which influences funding, ranks in the bottom 3 percent in Pennsylvania.

Luckily, Badams does not shy from a challenge. Despite having closed three elementary schools, cut staff by 349 positions and emptied its self-insured catastrophic claims fund during his seven years as superintendent, the 13,500-student district remains on the verge of financial insolvency.

Erie City Schools has even explored the possibility of closing its four high schools because Pennsylvania school code does not require districts to offer high school but permits a district to pay tuition to send students elsewhere. Even this drastic option would save the district just $2 million — a fraction of the $10.1 million budget shortfall it faces in 2017-18.

Throughout his career, Badams has never let an out-of-reach solution slow him down. In this instance, Badams has taken the fight to Harrisburg, where he’s led a coordinated appeal to the state education secretary for an additional $30 million in funding.

Last June, Badams organized two busloads of district parents and students to travel to the Pennsylvania capital for a Rally for Fair Funding. “That was the best education my children ever got,” says Kelly Heberle, a parent of three and active PTA leader. “I feel so fortunate to have him advocating for my kids.”

He won’t be around, though, to benefit from that advocacy. This summer, he’ll become superintendent of a cross-border district serving students in Hanover, N.H., and Norwich, Vt.

Even so, Heberle fondly recalls the film Badams picked for all to watch on the 300-mile ride to Harrisburg — the adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ 1954 children’s book Horton Hears a Who. In this story, an elephant struggles to protect a microscopic community from those who refuse to believe it exists. It carries the same simple yet powerful message Badams has helped his community embrace, Heberle says. “We are here and we matter.”