PHILADELPHIA – If the Philadelphia school district wants more state money, it will have to attract more willing students.

It will no longer be allowed to hold students hostage by capping the number of students allowed to enroll in the city’s charter schools.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission, a state-appointed board that governs the district, has special powers to suspend certain state laws and employment contract provisions in order to turn the failing school district around.

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But those powers do not include the ability to suspend a law that prohibits districts from capping enrollment at charter schools, according to Common Pleas Court Judge Gary S. Glazer.

“This court clearly recognizes and understands the severe conditions which exist in the Philadelphia School District,” Glazer wrote in a ruling this week, Philly.com reports. “Nevertheless, the SRC did not have the authority” to suspend the law prohibiting a charter enrollment cap.

District and union officials have blamed charter schools, in part, for the school system’s budget problems. Philly schools could spend about $700 million, or $25 million more than budgeted, on payments to charter schools by the end of the current school year, the news site reports.

Philadelphia public school officials contend charter payments are costing the district more than anticipated because charter schools have enrolled 1,600 more students than they are supposed to, Phily.com reports.

Obviously the charter schools are costing the public schools a lot of money. But that’s because a lot of parents want their children out of Philly schools and are sending them to charter schools. The state money attached to those students then flows to the charter schools.

Parents should have an absolute right to choose the charter schools. Their children are not the property of the public school district, and the district has no right to keep them enrolled against their will by limiting the number of spots available in charter schools.

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The ruling this week is the first milestone in the case dating back to 2011, when the SRC suspended the state’s charter school law to impose the enrollment cap and several city charter schools filed a lawsuit to challenge the decision.

In his ruling Glazer also said the SRC cannot prevent the city’s charter schools from seeking payment for students beyond the district-imposed cap from the state Department of Education, money that would be deducted from the district’s state funding, Philly.com reports.

“We think this is a significant decision for all charter schools in the city, and especially those who were courageous enough to file suit,” Kevin McKenna, attorney representing five charters in the lawsuit, told the news site. “We would hope the district will abide by the decision and move forward.”

The five-member SRC is expected to vote today on a new charter school policy based on its presumed power to suspend the state’s charter school law. It’s unclear how this week’s ruling will impact that decision.